Rise of the Seven Dragons
by NPP-VI
Summary: Ranma and Usagi met three years ago, and have been travelling together ever since. Now as the siblings arrive in Nerima, each of their stories is about to unfold... along with five others as well.
1. Chapter 1 - Here We Go

**Chapter 1**

 **Here We Go**

It was raining lightly in Tokyo. A fact well noted by two girls running from a panda.

"I _told_ you!" The petite redhead shouted, "I'm not marrying anyone old man!"

Her blonde companion grabbed her and pulled her out of the way as a large dumpster crashed into the space she barely vacated.

The redhead looked around, then slashed the metal pole of a stop sign. She turned to her companion. "Usa, make sure nobody gets caught in the crossfire." Then the girl turned, hefted the sign like a battle axe, and leapt to attack the panda.

A few moments later, the redhead dropped the sign and turned from the collapsed bear. She made it two steps, Usagi's cry of "Ranma, look out!" coming too late as the panda knocked her unconscious.

* * *

"Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"

* * *

"So," Nabiki's eyebrow twitched. "Let me get this straight. You're betrothing one of us to a boy that not only have we never met, but you haven't either. We're getting three permanent houseguests. And to top it all off, you _still_ haven't got a stable source of income. That about sum it up?"

Soun Tendo nodded emphatically.

"Akane," Nabiki asked, "Can I borrow your hammer for a minute?"

"Now, now Nabiki," Kasumi interjected, "I'm sure you don't want to do that. Mother's good tea set is already set up for when our guests arrive."

The doorbell ringing spared Soun any further threats or abuse.

Temporarily.

Soun seized his opportunity for escape and rushed out of the room to answer the door. Raised voices were heard, and Soun ran back into the room, followed by a panda.

"So Daddy," Nabiki drawled, "Friends of yours?"

Soun shook his head.

"Really? So a panda just happened to pick our house when he decided to drop by for lunch?"

The panda in question plunked the protesting redhead he was carrying in front of Soun.

The older man stared at the redhead for a moment before taking a wild guess, "Ranma?"

Ranma looked down and sighed, "Yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Soun grabbed Ranma in a bear hug. "Ranma my boy, we're so happy to have you here. Now you can… marry…" Soun put the girl at arm's reach. He reached out and poked her chest.

"Please don't do that," Ranma said flatly.

Soun fell over while the panda wandered off. A blonde girl wandered in. "Oh I can't wait to see Genma try and explain this one away."

Kasumi stood and walked over to the girl. "Hello there, you must be Usagi Tsukino. Do _you_ know what's going on?" Her tone was calm and level, but had a definitively pleading note.

Usagi nodded, "Uh-huh. But I think I'd better let this one play out and just focus on damage control."

Kasumi dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Alright, but please don't let things get too far out of hand."

* * *

Ranma, Akane, and Usagi were in the dojo. "You sure you wanna sit out Usa?" Ranma asked.

The girl in question nodded. "Yeah, I still haven't been at this very long; I think I'll learn more from watching you two."

The spar began, and shortly thereafter ended when Ranma tapped the back of Akane's head. The pair devolved into laughter that even Usagi got swept up in.

The laughter subsided, but Usagi's smile stayed as the trio began talking about the spar, reviewing what they'd done. Usagi felt a small glow of pride that she actually managed to contribute a little with the outside perspective that she had.

Her smile fell and Ranma froze up as Akane uttered those fateful words. "I'm just glad you're not a boy."

As she left Usagi and Ranma exchanged a glance.

* * *

Usagi and Kasumi were in the kitchen talking when Nabiki walked in, "Who's that man talking with Daddy?"

Kasumi looked over at her. "Oh that's Father's friend. I'm not quite sure when he got here."

Nabiki nodded, "I just hope Akane doesn't find out there was a man here while she was in the furo."

Usagi started. "Oh no. Akane's in the furo?"

"Yeah, I just passed her in the hall on her way there. Why?"

Usagi turned to Kasumi. "I'm sorry, but things might be about to get a little further out of hand than I thought they would." She promptly ran out of the room.

* * *

The door to the furoba slid open. A boy and a girl stared at each other. The door slid shut. Akane put on her robe and walked out of the bathroom.

As she turned and went to run down the hallway, her scream was cut short before it started by Usagi catching her. "Akane," the blonde whispered in the bluenette's ear, "This is going to be hard enough for Ranma as is. Give him a chance to explain." The girls separated and Akane met Usagi's pleading eyes. "Please."

Akane stood there for a moment, the struggle evident on her face. "There had better be a really good explanation."

Usagi smiled. "There is." Her eyes hardened. "For Ranma anyway."

* * *

The Tendo family sat on one side of the table. Across from them sat Ranma and Genma Saotome, Usagi Tsukino between them.

Ranma broke the silence. "So… Umm…" He sighed. "I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Akane looked at him. "So who was the girl earlier?"

Ranma raised his hand. "That was me too."

Genma stood up. "Allow me to explain." He walked behind Usagi, grabbed Ranma and threw him. Ranma grabbed his father's wrists in midair and landed, using the momentum as leverage to throw the man into the koi pond.

A panda sat up in the pond with a disgruntled look on his face and a fish flopping on his head. He stood up and walked back to the table, where he sat down.

Soun coughed into his hand. "I'll explain. Ranma, Genma, and Usagi just got back from China. While they were there they visited the legendary cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo, and Ranma and Genma were cursed there."

Nabiki raised her hand. "Question: Why were Ranma and Genma cursed and not Usagi?"

Usagi sighed, "Because I listened to the guide instead of ignoring the warning signs and jumping straight into training on a bunch of bamboo poles over cursed springs."

Kasumi spoke up. "So what is the curse exactly?"

Ranma turned to her. "Water. Cold water transforms us into something else, hot water changes us back."

"Oh." Kasumi upended the teakettle over Genma's head.

The man squeaked as he changed back. "It needn't be quite that hot."

"Oh my. I'm so sorry Mr. Saotome; I forgot that water was boiling." She paused. "I'll go heat up some more water for tea." She turned and walked out of the room.

As she left, Akane grabbed a glass of ice water and stood up. She walked around the table, kneeling down in front of Ranma. She put one hand on his shoulder and locked eyes with him. She continued to look into his eyes as if searching for something, then upended the cold water over his head and watched the transformation take place. She held her stare on the girl for a moment before standing and retaking her seat.

"So," Soun's voice was overly cheerful, "My boy, you've got a bit of a problem. But don't worry; you can still marry one of my daughters." All four teenagers still in the room facefaulted as he stood and gestured around the room at each girl as he listed them. "Akane, 16; Nabiki, 17; and Kasumi, 19" The last girl looked slightly confused at hearing that as she walked in. Soun sat down again. "So which one do you pick?"

Kasumi almost dropped the fresh teakettle she was holding. The oldest Tendo girl bit her lip. _I'm sorry Akane,_ she thought, _but this kills two birds with one stone anyway, so…_ "Oh, he wants Akane."

Nabiki snapped her head around. After a split second of staring at her sister in shock, she smirked and joined the bandwagon. "Oh yes, they're perfect for each other."

Akane looked back and forth, giving both of her sisters traitorous looks. "Wait, what? When did I agree to this? I don't want to marry a pervert!" She flinched as soon as the words were out.

Ranma hid her wince by looking away from her. "Right, I'm the pervert."

Akane swung around and shot him a glare. "And just _what_ is that supposed to mean?"

Ranma put her hands behind her head and turned away to hide the pain in her eyes. "Well I sure noticed you getting a good long look at me back there. And I'm built better to boot."

Ranma never even saw the table coming.

* * *

Some time later Ranma woke up on the floor. Someone had taken the table off of her and replaced it with a blanket. She sat up, stretching and rubbing the back of her head. She could hear hushed voices from the kitchen and didn't want to bother anyone, so she made her way to the bathroom, the only other source of hot water she knew of.

The furoba door slid open. Two girls stared at each other. Akane slapped Ranma.

* * *

It was late – a few hours had gone by – as Usagi pulled herself onto the roof. She smiled, "I knew I'd find you up here."

Ranma gave her a wave of acknowledgement.

Usagi sat down next to him. "You always go to the highest point around when you need to think. Must be the cat in you."

Ranma shuddered. "Please don't mention that."

The blonde girl dipped her head. "Sorry." She waited for a minute. "So, you've got a fiancée now."

"I do not! That's just another one of Pop's crazy ideas!"

"Ranma, I've been traveling with you for three years, and even when we met you were an open book. You like her. A lot."

"Why would I –"

"Then look me in the eyes. Look me square in the eyes and tell me you don't like her."

Ranma looked at his friend for a long minute as the night wind blew. He abruptly broke eye contact. "She's –"

"Obviously important enough to you already that you're sitting over her bedroom looking for peace."

Ranma exhaled, seeming to deflate as his defenses dropped under the assault. "It doesn't matter. She doesn't want anything to do with me anyway."

"Isn't that the kind of thing you should let **her** decide?"

"Usa, she doesn't even want to be friends now that she knows I'm a boy. I'll just wait for Pops to get bored and move on to the next scheme like he always does. Then she'll never have to worry about me again and she can move on to a happy, normal life."

"The great Ranma Saotome giving up? Doesn't sound like the martial artist I know."

"I'm not giving up, I'm straight up refusing to fight her on this! I'm not going to force her – anyone – to do anything! Especially not something as serious as marriage. That'd be too much like…"

"Like your father. So don't. Don't force her into anything, but give her a chance to decide for herself based off of more than the bad first impressions that follow you around. Fiancée, friend, or acquaintance, let her make that decision on her own, but stick around and give her that chance. Running is one of Genma's favorite tactics too."

"… Thanks Usa. I don't know why you bother to stick around sometimes."

"Because three years ago a certain pigtailed martial artist found a girl collapsed under a bridge and became the best friend she's ever had. I don't know what the panda's going to pull next, but there's no chance I'm letting a friend like you face it alone. I don't abandon my friends, you taught me that."

There was a comfortable silence for a bit. Then Ranma broke it, "Alright Usa, I'm going to bed."

"I think I'll stay up here tonight, you know I always have trouble sleeping in a new place when I can't see the moon."

"Fair enough, you want me to bring up a bedroll?"

"Nah, it's a warm night and I left my pack in Kasumi's room when I snuck out anyway. I'll go inside if it starts to rain or something."

"Alright, g'night Usa."

"Night Ranma."

The pigtailed boy jumped off the roof and walked back into the house. The blonde girl laid back and closed her eyes. The bluenette silently turned from her window and went to bed.

Akane had heard the entire exchange.

* * *

Usagi raised an eyebrow as Akane walked out of her bedroom. "You're not really going to wear that to school, are you?"

Akane looked down at her uniform, "Yes, why?"

The blonde put a hand over her eyes. "You know, I get the whole martial artist pride, get every last drop of use out of everything, run stuff into the ground mentality, but it really does not have a practical application to women's clothing."

Akane blinked, "Usagi, what are you talking about? This is the standard regulation cut for the school uniform."

Usagi did a double take. The faintest hint of steel slid behind her eyes as she recovered. "Oh really?" She looked pointedly at the eight inch skirt and extremely low cut V-neck blouse. "Akane, show me your gym clothes." The other girl opened her school bag and pulled out a tight yellow T-shirt and red short shorts that were only just shy of being bikini bottoms. Usagi took a deep breath and let it out. "Akane, go put on some different clothes, _**right now.**_ "

Akane looked scandalized. "What? You mean go to school out of uniform? I can't do that, what would everyone think?"

She received a flat look, "That you're the first girl at school smart enough to not give the boys a free peep show every time the wind blows."

"Usagi! I really don't think it would be a good idea to –"

She was cut off as Ranma came up the stairs, "Akane, Usa, Kasumi said to tell you breakfast's ready and we're going to be –" He stopped short and changed gears in a split second. "Akane, you should really wear your right size of clothes. I don't think you want to be showing that much skin."


	2. Chapter 2 - The Stage is Set

**Chapter 2**

 **The Stage is Set**

Two girls and a boy ran towards Furinkan High. An old lady watered her sidewalk. Three girls stopped at the corner to figure out what to do.

* * *

Ranma, Akane, and Usagi peeked around the corner at a small clinic. "You sure we can get hot water here?"

"Yes Ranma," Akane rolled her eyes, "Doctor Tofu is an old family friend, so I don't see hot water being a problem."

Suddenly they both felt Usagi tense behind them. They turned to see the girl had frozen up, and there was a man behind her holding a skeleton. Ranma's eye caught the skeleton's hand on Usagi's shoulder. "Plastic."

Usagi relaxed with a sigh of relief, then turned and lit into the man. "What're you trying to do, give me a heart attack!?"

As the blonde continued her tirade, the redhead turned to the bluenette and offered a partial explanation, "Usa's not good with scary stuff. That 'I'm gonna die' feeling, she can handle just fine, but anything creepy or spooky or stuff like that? Nuh-uh."

Akane just blinked. "I've never seen Doctor Tofu look bemused before."

* * *

Akane, Usagi, and an again male Ranma arrived at the gates of Furinkan High School. Akane stopped the other two, "Alright, hold on a second, there's something I need to take care of real fast." After the two new students agreed, the trio of teens walked through the gates.

Akane readied herself as her friends sat down, Ranma atop the wall and Usagi directly beneath him. Just as they settled into their seats, a mob of boys in sports gear and training clothes rushed out of the front doors of the school building. Sixty seconds later the boys were on the ground in varying degrees of pain and consciousness.

A rose flew at Akane like a dart. As she nabbed it out of the air, a boy whose clothes, bokken, and introduction clearly identified him as a member of the kendo club stepped out of a small cluster of trees.

As his monologues continued, Ranma shot Usagi a confused look. "So wait, these guys were trying to beat Akane in a fight to make her date them?"

Usagi shrugged. "Apparently."

Ranma nodded, his expression completely neutral. "I see."

"You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?"

"Probably."

"Is this going to end like China?"

"No idea."

"Go for it."

Ranma smirked and nodded again before hopping off the wall. "Hey Akane!"

* * *

The three teenagers were in the otherwise empty gymnasium, Akane still holding the recently emptied teapot.

Usagi sighed. "You know, we should probably start carrying hot water bottles or something to save time heating water up."

* * *

Ranma, Akane, and Usagi stood holding their buckets in the hall.

Akane shot Ranma a glare. "This is all your fault. I always have them wrapped up with enough time to get to class."

Usagi shrugged. "True, but nobody commented on your clothes."

Akane looked down at her T-shirt and loose pants. "Fair enough, cloud Ranma has silver lining Usa to balance it out." Neither of her companions bothered to point out Ranma's contribution to the wardrobe decision. Not that they had time, as Akane's lip suddenly twitched and a mischievous gleam entered her eyes. "Speaking of clouds, I'd say it's about time for some rain."

Ranma stepped back and held his hands up. "Whoa, hey now, let's be reasonable here, there's no need for drastic measures."

Akane and Usagi's giggles were cut short by Tatewaki Kuno barreling around the corner. "Ranma Saotome! You cannot be engaged to Akane Tendo! I forbid it!"

The opening doors, heads stuck into the hallways, and confused "Engaged?"s were utterly ignored as six buckets of water piled horizontally on Kuno's face and a triplicate cry of, "Who are you to make that decision anyway?" echoed through the school hallways.

Kuno ignored the question and came up swinging.

Ranma dodged and bolted as he looked for a way to take the fight outside. As he ran towards a window, he heard Usagi shout, "Ranma! Swimming Pool!"

Too late to alter course, Ranma grabbed the top of the window frame and swung around it to land against the side of the building above the window. Kuno overshot and flew out the window to fall all the way down to the swimming pool.

Ranma swung back into the hallway. "Well, let's go make sure he doesn't drown."

"Do we have to?"

"Notice he's taking the long way down," Usagi rejoined.

* * *

Later that night, the image of the blonde girl with the rather short hair who pulled him from the water would haunt Kuno's dreams.

Early the next morning, pictures of Usagi Tsukino would be placed next to ones of Akane Tendo.

* * *

Akane looked over her shoulder as she walked away from the school with Ranma and Usagi. "You realize it's not even lunch time yet."

She got a flat look from above. "You realize we weren't going to be doing any learning today?"

Ranma received a glare, but Akane's gaze turned almost instantly quizzical. "Why are you up there anyway?"

"Balance training." Usagi said from her other side. "One of the few things that Genma did right was teach Ranma how to turn anything into training."

Akane turned to the girl. "You really don't like the panda very much for someone who's travelling companions with him."

Usagi shook her head. "I don't travel with the panda, I travel with Ranma. Give it a few weeks, a scam or two. You won't like Genma Saotome much either. Ranma's my best friend, and Genma's his biggest problem."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there's a reason that neither of us were surprised to find out that he had decided to marry Ranma off and never bothered to mention it until the day we showed up at your door."

Akane was silent for a moment as she thought. "Things are about to get a lot more dangerous around here, aren't they?"

Usagi sighed. "Probably. And Genma is only going to be a part of that. I'm afraid you're about to get sucked into the chaos of our lives."

Akane bit her lip and halted, her companions stopping just in ahead of her and turning to look at her. After a short pause and a little chewing, she nodded sharply. "Ranma, I want to train with you."

Ranma blinked. "What?"

"I want to train with you." She repeated, "I know Anything Goes, the style is adaptive, almost cannibalistic. We absorb moves, techniques, combinations, from every style we encounter, every opponent we come across, every fight we have. I'm not agreeing to 'join the schools," there she rolled her eyes, "so I'm not asking for any of the Saotome School secrets, but I want to learn the things you've picked up in your travels. I can't shake the feeling that the world is about to become a very big place, and I need to be able to keep up because I have every intention of fighting alongside my friends."

Ranma actually looked contemplative for a split second. Then he dipped his head. "Alright then, let's start with stuff you can do on your own. Where's the shortest, fattest wall around here?"

* * *

Setsuna looked up from her sake bottle. As she realized which sensor was beeping, she triggered her transformation, sobering straight up as her metabolism kicked into overdrive. She ran the twenty feet from her sake crate furniture to the time gate control panel, excitement and adrenaline quickly replacing the alcohol in her blood.

Sailor Moon had been found.

Sailor Pluto deflated slightly as she took in the scene on the display. She couldn't see her. It was either a false positive on the sensor sweep of Tokyo that ran every week or so, or…

One of the girls was pregnant.

That had to be it; the sensors had picked up the first vestiges of the life of the princess on the next time around. One of these girls was destined to become the next mother of Princess Serenity.

Hopefully she was still close enough that she would be able to take up the mantle. Hopefully she would still have time to win the war after she gained her powers. Hopefully there would be a few resistance fighters left to rally around her and carry the day. Hopefully they still had a chance to save the world.

Desperately, Pluto had the gates identify the three teenagers she was being shown. No information was available on the girl with the slightly ragged blonde hair, but the gates used the Japanese National database to identify the other girl as Akane Tendo and the boy with them (Who she presumed was the father) as Ranma Saotome. She would have to manipulate Sailor V and Luna into watching those two.

As she punched the buttons however, a red emblem began blinking on the display.

"Chaos blockage?"

"You can't meddle in Nerima, not then." Pluto turned around to look at herself. "There's too much raw chaos energy flying around. And even if you could meddle, I wouldn't let you."

The Pluto standing at the gates shot the apparently slightly older version of herself an accusatory glare, "You're looping."

"Didn't have a choice, so I got special permission."

"From who?"

"Who do you think?"

"Why are you here?"

"To stop you from making a rather serious mistake."

"In trying to find the princess?"

"In manipulating things before she's ready."

Present Pluto paused. "What's the variable I'm missing?"

"One that happens regularly, especially there and then, a simple case of mistaken identity. Now you need to go about three decades or so before this and be born on earth as Setsuna Meiou."

"I failed Serenity once, I won't do it again."

"No, you won't. Because no, you didn't. The princess is strong, healthy, confident, capable, everything we could hope for is budding right there."

"I need to see the princess before I can just accept that."

"Why Pluto, you already have…"

The younger version of the senshi of time froze up at that for a brief instant before swinging around to take in the scene again. This time something occurred to her. "Of course… Identity unknown? Computer, out-filter earth databases. Identify the blonde girl using magical and lunar methods."

After a brief moment the process completed. A bubble attached itself to the girl, "Usagi Tsukino: Sailor Moon match 98%." As Sailor Pluto read on, a smile grew across her face, the differences were drastic for it, but they just barely could have been caused by a dramatically different lifestyle.

She voiced the only question that was really left, "How…"

"That my friend is something that you will have to discover for yourself." Before she knew what was happening, Sailor Pluto found herself spinning and tipping through the Time Gates and straight into the dying magical wave of Queen Serenity.

* * *

Usagi was humming quietly as she made her way home. It was a shame that Ranma and Akane had had to leave early because of the baseball incident, but Yuka, Sayuri, and Naru had been nice enough to keep her from being completely alone at school, so things hadn't been too bad.

She stopped short as a small black cat wandered out of an alleyway. "Hello there little friend, how are you?" As she reached down to pet it, she noticed that it was pawing at a bandage on its forehead.

"Oh here, let me help you with that." The bandage was removed and a crescent moon exposed. Usagi continued to stroke the purring feline for a few moments. Then she sighed, "I wish I could take you home kitty, but that just wouldn't be a good idea, not with Ranma." She patted the stunned cat a few times and then stood up and walked away.

As the girl she now knew to be Sailor Moon left, Luna only had one thought on her mind.

Ranma.

The moon cat stalked into the shadowed alleyway. It seemed obvious to her that the senshi's captain was sending her a message. This "Ranma" person had Sailor Moon scared enough that she had already figured out who she was and was chessmastering to protect her identity. Luna had her mission.

Ranma had to be eliminated.

* * *

 **A/N:** Alrighty, that's another chapter down. Thanks to everyone who's supporting this story, feel free to review or comment, and I'll respond as best as I can.

Also, to the anonymous guest who commented on my last chapter, Usagi's had three years of travelling and living with Genma and Ranma. That's affected her, just like it's affected Ranma, so both of them are going to feel a little different. For example, Usagi will be more coordinated, I think I've already mentioned her different hairstyle, she doesn't have the whole hero-worship thing for Sailor V (In fact, she's never even heard of her), and video games don't really fit into her life at the moment. On the flip side, core character attributes like her kindness, generosity, and determination are still present. Ranma has similar things going on.

Okay, thanks again everyone.

~ NPP-VI


	3. Chapter 3 - Feline Fury

**A/N:** _ **A bit belatedly (eyeroll), the disclaimer. "It is an established fact that none of the authors on this site own any of the franchises that they draw their characters from. Why should I be any different?"**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Feline Fury**

Ranma turned and posed as a click was heard from the bushes. Usagi looked up from her lunch, "Ranma, what are you doing?"

The boy shrugged. "That weird Hikaru Gosunkugi kid keeps taking my picture; I'm just making sure he gets some good ones."

"Oh, is that why he's been hanging around the house for the past couple of days?" Akane queried.

Usagi sighed, "Probably… Ranma, stop encouraging him, this feels like a setup."

"Relax Usa, there's nobody in this town who can take me in a fight."

"There wasn't in China either."

"I… yeah, fine, whatever."

"So what are we going to do?" Akane interjected.

Ranma laughed. "You're asking me? Fighting Gosunkugi isn't exactly a good idea, the guy's nowhere close to being a martial artist."

Usagi nodded, grinning wryly. "So we wait it out for now, get ready for anything?"

The nod was returned. "And when anything comes, anything goes."

A tumbleweed rolled by.

"How long have you been waiting to use that Ranma?"

"Well, Usa taught me what a pun was when we met three years back, so…"

* * *

Luna was getting frustrated. Every time that Ranma caught a glimpse of her, he vanished. At first she had been worried that she'd blown Sailor Moon's cover, but nothing had happened despite her being repeatedly spotted.

And it wasn't like it was just her either, it was… it was all cats… It was all cats. Luna facepawed. It was _all_ cats!

Obviously Ranma knew that a cat would be coming for Sailor Moon – Usagi, as Luna had discovered she was called – but he didn't know _which_ cat it would be.

Luna did a backflip and the disguise pen dropped out of subspace. It was usefully fortunate that Sailor Moon's impending danger had forced some of her Swiss-cheesed memories to return, although sometimes it was annoyingly halfway. For example, she remembered that at the height of Queen Serenity's power, she and Artemis had the ability to take human form, but she couldn't remember how to do it. Nor did she remember any way to access the requisite power.

Hopefully though, she could use the pen to force the change, or half change, or even just pretend to be human. The cat flicked the metal rod into the air.

* * *

Ranma, Akane, and Usagi stopped short as they neared the Tendo compound. A raven haired girl who looked to be about ten stood just outside the gates. None of them missed the death glare she was giving Ranma.

Ranma sighed, "Either Kuno or Gosunkugi just got a new partner or our lives just got even more complicated."

"Ranma Saotome! I demand that you let Usagi Tsukino go!" (Luna would later reflect on this moment and admit that it was not exactly her best or most thought through plan. She wasn't even quite sure what happened, it might have just been something in the air, but as soon as her idea with the disguise pen worked, she had the "overwhelming urge to try something completely stupid in the hopes that it would work." Several decades later a group of scientists would analyze this statement, begin another decade of research, and come up with the "Nerima Effect" theory. The concentrated levels of chaos caused a metaphysical pulse when something desperate worked, and… well the effect was that it snowballed. The inverse held true as well. They won a Nobel Prize.)

Ranma blinked, "That's a new one."

"I will fight for her freedom!"

"Yup." He nodded. "Our lives just got more complicated."

"Well Usa, you want to take care of this alone? Or do you want some help?" Akane asked.

"Wait, what? Why me?"

"Your fan club."

"Yeah, but she's here to fight _you_ Ranma!"

"I can't hit her, she's just a kid! What would happen if I accidentally hurt her?"

"Well then, what are we supposed to do?"

"Like I said, you go talk her down."

"Hey! I'm still here you know!"

Overwhelmed by the double teaming from her friends, Usagi shouted back reflexively, "We'll talk terms in the dojo!" She looked between her facepalming companions. "What?"

"…Usa…" Ranma began, "That sounded…"

"…Like you just accepted her challenge." Akane finished.

* * *

"Alright!" Akane stood just outside of the fighting area of the dojo floor, straddling the invisible halfway line. "This match will be between Usagi Tsukino representing the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and the unnamed challenger. The Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts is hosting and providing the referee. The match will be one round, and will end when one or both parties are unable to continue fighting. Do both parties agree to these terms?" She waited until both girls nodded. "Then Begin!"

Usagi shifted into an open stance typical of the Saotome School fighting style. Also typical for that style, she sent out a taunt, although she didn't want to barb it too badly, for fear she'd hurt the poor girl's feelings, so she decided to go with a backhanded reassurance, "I'll try not to hurt you kid, but I can't dishonor my school by losing the match either."

Luna took an aggressive stance, both hands balled in front of her. "I don't want to hurt you either Usagi, but if I have to go through you to get to Ranma, I will. I swear to you though, you will be free."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Usagi ran forward two steps and leaped into a handspring. She flipped and was suspended in the air for a moment, arms wide and fingers straightened into beak fists. "Freedom is being able to help the people you care about." Then she was on the ground and brushing past Luna as her arms scissored across her chest.

Luna blinked and quickly spun to see Usagi behind her in a defensive stance, arms crossed and weight on her back foot. She gasped as she felt her left arm go numb. She may have bitten off a bit more than she could chew.

For what felt like the thousandth time, Ranma silently thanked the old shrine priest who had taught Usagi that set of ten disabling nerve shots. That had helped her out of sticky situations more than once.

Usagi's smile at her opponent was warm, but firm. "I am free."

Luna looked deep into the blonde girl's eyes. "I don't know what thrall Ranma has over you Usagi…" She put her hand on her left shoulder and Usagi inhaled sharply as she saw the crescent moon on her forehead flash. Luna reassumed her combat stance. "But I'm going to end it."

Usagi paused for less than an instant before fresh memories returned. The smile gained some new qualities as she looked down. "I see, that's what this is about…"

"Pay attention Usagi!" Luna's haymaker was blocked by a crescent kick. As Luna spun the rest of her body around her core, the guillotine kick was caught and she found herself thrown by the ankle across the dojo.

As the raven-haired girl twisted in midair to land on her feet, sliding backwards a meter before coming to a complete stop, Usagi nodded. "I thought so. Tell me friend, what's your name?"

"Luna."

"Alright Luna, thank you for your efforts, but they're unnecessary. I'm afraid you've got a bit of a misconception about the situation. Also, I'm sorry, but it seems you aren't prepared to hear me out, so it's time to end this fight."

Luna watched as Usagi bolted forward, using kick jumping techniques to zigzag her way across the floor. Then she disappeared.

What Luna hadn't noticed was Usagi's variation in footing on the last jump. Hearing something above her, the cat/girl looked up just in time to see Usagi land on and push off of the ceiling.

In an instant, Luna found herself nose to nose with Usagi, the blonde's left hand on her throat, right hand holding her fist just behind her shoulder, and Luna's right arm and both legs already going numb.

"Yield."

"Never."

The hand left Luna's throat and she had only just formed the thought to spin away when it happened. She barely felt it when the other hand gently touched the back of her neck.

Usagi gently lowered the unconscious Luna to the floor.

* * *

The door of the dojo quietly slid shut as the three teenagers slipped out. "So what now?" Akane voiced.

Usagi sighed, "I'll wait here until she wakes up and then clear up the confusion."

"You know what she got into her head then?" Ranma asked. Usagi nodded. "Alright then, I got that note from Gosunkugi, I'm gonna go follow up on that, try and figure out why he's been going around taking pictures of me."

They both looked at Akane expectantly. She blinked in surprise. "Oh! Umm…"

"…You could come with me." Ranma hesitantly offered.

Akane thought for a moment. Then she shook her head. "No, I'm going to stay here, practice walking around the complex on top of the wall."

Ranma dipped his head. "Alright then, we've got a plan?" The other two nodded and the three went their separate ways.

* * *

Akane jumped off of the wall to meet Ranma at the front gate. "So, what's the news?"

"Gosunkugi and Kuno are trying to figure out my weakness. Good thing I don't have one."

"Cold water?"

"Very funny."

"Come on Ranma, everyone's got something, you're human too. You'll probably be better off letting us know so we can help you."

"Right, that makes sense, hide a weakness by telling people about it."

"First night, curse."

"… I'll think about it."

* * *

From the dojo, Usagi heard Ranma scream. As she rushed out, the door didn't quite shut behind her. A black cat (For some reason nobody would ever figure out, the transformation reversed when she _regained_ consciousness, rather than when she lost it) would wake up and slip out a few minutes later.

* * *

Luna slipped under the house and found a comfortable spot to listen to the conversation going on above her. She pricked her ears to hear what was being said, and then over the next twenty minutes her eyes slowly widened involuntarily as she listened on in horror.

* * *

"Oh such a tragedy for a father! To have a son who's afraid of a measly little kitty cat!"

 _ **BANG!**_

The sliding door slammed open and the raven haired girl Luna stalked in. "How… you…" She spun around and pointed at the boy with the pigtail. "Good news Ranma, you're off the hook." She turned again to face Genma, the fire in her eyes growing even harsher. "As for you Genma Saotome… Did you know that on average it takes _fifteen hundred_ cats to induce the Neko-Ken? I don't know if it's any different for a six-year-old, but I wasn't there, so that's the number I'll go by. Now I'm going to make you a promise, and let me assure you that this is a binding magical contract in every sense of the term: Genma Saotome, I swear to you, by the moon, that I will bring retribution on you for Every. Last. One of them."

Genma scoffed and shot her a look. "And just who are you to promise such things?"

Luna gave a feral smile as she bent down to whisper in his ear. She answered his question. She told him her name. Her full name. All of it, every term, every rank, every title. She told him exactly who she was.

She straightened back up and gave the man a look of feline disdain. "And if you ever reveal what I just told you, I'll claw out your throat." She spun on her heel and stalked out, slamming the door behind her.

Genma leapt to his feet and threw open the door to return fire, only to find that the girl had completely vanished and he was looking at an empty backyard.

Silently, unnoticed by any but Kasumi, Nabiki penciled a new player into her scorebook and gave "The Mysterious Cat Girl" one point each in the fields of threat, effect, and exit. After thinking about it for a moment, she added a point on entrance and a second point to exit.

* * *

Usagi lay on the roof of the Tendo home. "Usagi." She turned at the voice, sitting up as she recognized the black cat that was talking to her as the one she had helped a few days back.

"Hello Luna, how can I help you?"

"Usagi, I… I'm sorry about the incident with Ranma, I misunderstood and acted rashly, and –"

"Don't worry Luna, that kind of thing happens all the time. Especially around him."

"But it shouldn't happen to _me_! _I_ shouldn't be making mistakes like that with people so close to you. I'm supposed to help you, not attack your friends and allies."

"Oh, on that note, stop it. You don't owe me anything. If you want to be friends, I'm up for it, but all I did was take a bandaid off your forehead."

Luna blinked and looked at her blankly for a moment. "Oh, that's right! I forgot. You don't actually have all your memories back yet. You don't know who I really am."

"Nekomata, Bakeneko, another kind maybe? You are a Youkai though, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not. I'm a Mau, a Moon Cat."

"Moon Cat?"

"…Let's start at the beginning."

"What is the beginning?"

"The Moon Kingdom…"

* * *

Usagi turned the small piece of jewelry over in her hand before trying to hand it back to Luna. "Thank you, but no. Much as I would love to be a hero, I'm just a martial artist. No magic or special abilities. I'm sorry, I'm not your Sailor Moon."

"There's an easy way to prove it." Luna sidestepped as she dodged the broche, refusing to take it back. "Just throw it in the air and say 'Moon Prism Power Makeup.'"

She received a flat look. "That's the kind of trick that would work on Ranma, not me."

Luna gave a nervous chuckle. "In any case, keep the transformation broche. It's useless to anybody but you."

Usagi looked around. "I don't have anywhere to put it for the night."

"Put it in your pocket."

"I don't have any pockets in these clothes."

"Just do it."

Usagi sighed, rolling her eyes, and slipped the wand into her pocket. "See, I told… you… so?" Confused by the lack of a clatter, she cast her gaze around the roof, only to find that it had disappeared. "Where?"

"Your subspace pocket, where Sailor Senshi hold all of their equipment when they don't need it." Luna said, "Now try the same thing, only with the pocket in the air in front of you."

Hesitantly, (You could almost see her argument with Reality) Usagi reached out and pulled the broche out of thin air. Then she put it back and glared at the cat. "You know, I really think I'm going to dislike you."

Luna smirked as she walked off into the night. "I told you so."


	4. Chapter 4 - Nightmares Past

**Chapter 4**

 **Nightmares Past**

Kasumi's eyes snapped open. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand as she got out of her bed.

1:47

Something was very wrong in her house.

She sensed a door quietly sliding shut downstairs as she closed her bedroom door gently behind her. She finished cinching her bathrobe tight as she made her way down the stairs. She slipped out the back door that she had heard shut and looked around for the source of the disturbance. She found it on the roof.

* * *

Ranma was up like a shot. Something was wrong with Usa, and he was afraid he might know what. He wasn't quite sure why he bothered with being quiet, it wasn't like Pops would wake up or anything, for some reason he just felt the need for stealth as he snuck out of the room they shared and then went through the back door.

On the roof he could hear her, it sounded like he was right about what was wrong. He jumped up onto the roof and was mildly surprised by what he found.

* * *

Akane's eyes drifted open. She heard muffled noises on the roof above her, but brushed it off and rolled over.

A split second later she sat bolt upright as she remembered that Usagi was sleeping on the roof.

The girl grabbed her bathrobe off a chair and threw it on as she rushed to open the window. As she stuck her head out, she could hear pained moaning. Akane only hesitated for an instant before climbing out of her window and pulling herself up onto the roof.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't what she found.

Usagi was alone on the roof, writhing in pain under her blanket. As Akane drew closer, she realized that the girl was asleep. She knelt down next to the blonde, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her out of the nightmare.

She was so focused on that that she nearly screamed when Ranma landed next to her.

"How is she? How long has she been under?"

Akane was shocked enough by the uncharacteristic seriousness and intensity in Ranma's voice that her stupor left completely. "I don't know. I found her like this a few seconds ago."

Ranma nodded grimly as he placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. Bending down he whispered in her ear, "Usa, you're safe. It's Ranma. You need to wake up now." The blood drained from his face as she continued thrashing in front of him.

"Ranma? Akane? What's going on?" Kasumi's voice floated over the edge of the roof.

By way of answer, the teenagers in question landed in front of her, Ranma carrying the unconscious Usagi in his arms. "We need to wake her up."

Kasumi nodded, recognizing a domestic crisis that she knew how to handle. "Nightmares? Get her inside. Lay her down on the table while I go get something."

* * *

When Kasumi returned, Usagi was on the table, Ranma and Akane on either side of her cradling her head to keep her from hurting herself and holding her hands to try and comfort her.

They didn't even register her presence until she had set up and lit the first incense burner. Kasumi gave a detailed explanation of the incense she was using to provide white noise, a distraction to help all three teenagers, as she set up the other two burners.

The incense induced relaxation, setting up for the small canister of smelling salts she had also retrieved. Grimacing, she opened the sharply scented herbal remedy and held it near Usagi's nose. For a brief moment, her writhing – which had slowed under the influence of the incense – accelerated to its worst point of the night, before Usagi sat up, eyes flying open and gasping for breath as if she was coming out from under water.

She looked around wildly, panic still flooding her eyes, before her surroundings registered and she collapsed on her brother's shoulder, letting loose a torrent of tears. Ranma gently slid her off of the table and onto his lap, rocking back and forth and making gentle shushing noises. The tableau was completely uncharacteristic of either of them, but somehow, nobody noticed.

After Usagi's crying had quieted, the group remained still for a moment. Kasumi was the one who gently broke it, "So… what was that all about?"

Usagi leaned up and whispered something in Ranma's ear. He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. Are you sure?" The girl fragilely nodded and Ranma sighed.

"For almost as long as I've known Usa, she's had these nightmares. When she sleeps in moonlight it helps, aside from that the only thing we've been able to do was to sleep next to each other."

"What are they about?" Kasumi quietly asked.

Usagi turned around in Ranma's lap and finally spoke, her voice making it obvious how fragile she still was. "They're about the night that Ranma and I met. The night my family disappeared.

"Three years ago I was living with my family in the Minato Ward. We were attacked one night, I'm still not sure what that thing was, I just know that it radiated darkness. It doesn't help that my memories of that night are scattered and broken. I remember my mom saying she loved me. I remember my dad telling me to run. I remember my little brother getting dragged off into the shadows. I remember running.

"I actually ran so long that my feet were bleeding. That's how Ranma found me. His father had given him a midnight training assignment, and he came across my bloody footprints. He followed them and found me collapsed under a bridge. Given that the only thing I was wearing was my nightgown, I'm probably extremely lucky he found me before someone else did.

"We went back to my house the next morning. It had been burned to the ground and there was an investigation going on. One of the neighbors identified me, and the police questioned me. I told them what I could, but they thought it was just a little girl's imagination running wild with what actually happened.

"Somehow I managed to convince them that I was staying with close family friends, since Ranma and I were basically camping under a bridge I'm not sure how we pulled that off. Then things started getting weird. Officers were systematically moved off the case by being reassigned into other wards. Neighbors and friends, people I'd known all my life, were suddenly avoiding me, some of them even pretending not to recognize me. Eventually it got to the point where the only officer still working my case contacted me for what he said would be the last time.

"He told me to run and never look back. He told me that we had been systematically erased, our records gone from schools, hospitals, government databases. Someone had even made the police case files vanish. My family's missing persons reports, the investigation of my house, interrogation records. All of it. The only thing left was an APB matching my description.

"Then he told me why he thought it would probably be the last time he ever contacted me. He didn't like that there was at least one dirty cop involved, so he'd broken a couple of laws. He'd put a fake report into the system, a Jane Doe matching my description on that night right down to my nightgown – which was reported as being torn open down the front. It was registered as a rape/murder and he manually connected it to the APB in a way that made it look like the system had done it automatically.

"But whoever was behind this obviously had a lot of power. He figured he'd bought us some time, but we'd still have to run. They'd see through it eventually. That was the night I cut my hair, I've worn it like this ever since. That's another reason we haven't been able to stay put anywhere."

Akane was stunned into silence. Kasumi on the other hand realized that she needed to keep Usagi talking. "What happened to the officer?"

"We saw him in the papers about three months later. He was on a missing persons list, along with his family. That was when the nightmares started, when I realized that they were still coming for me.

They were worse when they first started. Ranma helped me a lot with them, kind of like how I helped him through the Neko-Ken. I'd gotten to the point where they were only coming about once a month, and weren't very bad when they did.

"I don't know what was different this time, but I couldn't take control. I couldn't wake up, even though I knew what was going on. Tonight was the worst one since the first time."

Kasumi sighed and sat back for a moment. "Alright, the first thing you don't have to worry about is them coming for you here. On this block alone we have twenty-seven fighters in Genma's category. The second thing you don't have to worry about is them tracking you down or making you vanish again. Nerima operates in a political bubble. Even the Yakuza can't get a foothold here, so I doubt your enemies will be able to make anything happen. The third thing you don't have to worry about is us throwing you out because of this, that's simply never going to happen.

"Now then. I would suggest that the three of you sleep in the dojo tonight. Akane's the chaperone, while Ranma helps keep Usagi's nightmares away. I'll wake you up when I start getting things ready in the morning, and you can pretend that you went into the dojo early to get some extra training in."

The trio nodded and stood, Ranma supporting the still-fragile Usagi. Kasumi went into the hall so that she could retrieve some tatami mats from the closet, and as she left the room she couldn't help but smile at the image she caught in her peripheries. Akane stepping up on Usagi's other side to lend a supporting shoulder, linking hands with Ranma behind the blonde's back to even out the weight distribution.

* * *

The plan for the morning went off without a hitch, although without the others knowing Kasumi took Nabiki aside and gave her an edited version of the events of the night before and Usagi's story. She left out most of the personal details, focusing on the political power, cloak and dagger manipulation, dirty cops, and manhunt.

In response to Nabiki's surprised question, "What do you want me to do about it?" Kasumi just gave her best truly innocent smile.

"Oh I don't know, it might just be helpful to keep a finger on the pulse, see if anyone's probing the local gossip chains. Watch the information leaving town, see if anybody's trying to track Usagi." The oldest Tendo girl then asked her mercenary sister to help taking the breakfast food out to everyone.

* * *

Ranma, Akane, and Usagi looked around them at lunch. "Wow," Usagi commented, "Everyone's dead today."

"Not sure if you noticed," Nabiki came out from behind their tree, "But they all have something else in common too. See it yet? No?" She pointed at Yuka, Sayuri, and Naru as they shuffled across the lawn towards them. "They're all wearing that new line of jewelry from Naru's mom's store."

The trio exchanged glances. "Hey Naru," Akane hollered, "Can we see that ring you're wearing?"

"Ooh, looking at rings Akane?"

"Only so we don't have to keep dealing with vultures Sayuri." Ranma shot back reflexively. He cringed as he realized how that could be interpreted, but Akane was too preoccupied with her friends' health to notice.

Others however…

In the abandoned classroom at the other end of the school, Hiroshi, Daisuke, and Gosunkugi held Kuno down. "Shh! For all we know, we're the only four non-zombies in this school."

"No! Release me you fools! I know that a pass was just made on my darling Akane!"

Akane shuddered.

"You alright Akane? It's not that cold out here is it?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had this really weird chill go down my spine."

Ranma shrugged and turned his attention back to the ring Naru was holding. "Hmm… something…" He reached out and touched the ring with a finger, then flinched and drew back like he'd been shocked. He looked at his finger for a moment, then hesitantly touched the ring again. His eyes narrowed as he withdrew his hand. "This ring…"

"Yes?" He looked up into Naru's wide and hopeful eyes. There was something fighting inside of him, the truth was fighting something gentle, something that reminded him of Usa and –

"Just won't work. There's nothing wrong with it, it's quite beautiful, but that's just it. We need something simpler, plainer. If the rest of the line is like this, then I'm afraid we can't use it. I would hate to have a ring like this and get it ruined in a fight."

Akane nodded, "He's right Naru, one fight and all your mom's hard work would be wasted. We wouldn't want that."

* * *

Akane, Usagi, and Ranma were at their shoe lockers. "Since when do you use that kind of tact Ranma?" Usagi asked.

"Or play along with ploys?" Akane added.

"Since a sudden change in Naru's emotions would have potentially alerted whoever's sucking out everyone's ki to the fact that we're on to them and put one of my friends in danger."

"Ki? You mean life force?" The three looked up to see a familiar young-looking girl.

"Luna," Ranma asked, "Do you have anything to do with this and/or do you know how to stop it?"

"No and yes. I know who's ultimately behind this, and I know someone who can stop it, but I can't find her no matter how hard I look. I thought I was close, but apparently not."

"So we'll do this then," Akane suggested, "You tell us what you know and we do whatever we can to help you."

"Fair enough, we can do this now or after you finish with school today."

"Hold Up!" Ranma held up the note he had just found in his shoe locker. "We might have one thing to take care of first."

Akane took the note from him and read it quickly. "I didn't write this."

"Didn't think so… Well, let's go see who did."

Luna read the note and looked up to see Ranma walking towards the exit, on his way to the gym. "He realizes that this is a trap, right?"

Usagi laughed, "Oh yeah, totally."

"He trusts us to get him out of trouble that much?"

"No." Akane shook her head. "He's just that rash."

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, lot's of backstory, I know, but frankly, it's your own fault. If I hadn't been getting so many questions about what happened to the Tsukinos and why Usagi was with Ranma, you'd have gotten a nice action-packed chapter. Instead, that all got postponed. Also, let me make myself clear on a few points.**

 **1) I already knew all of the information here before I published the first chapter of this story.**

 **2) Not going into these details was a deliberate choice, not an oversight.**

 **3) I will not be providing any further details on this issue for a great while, no matter how many questions I get about it.**

 **4) I do already have everything that happened to Usagi's family planned out.**

 **5) I will not be resolving that plot point for a very long time. As in, not until after the Metallia arc. Which is the "why" behind points 2 and 3.**

 **Okay, that should save me the repetitive stuff. Any other questions or comments are welcomed and encouraged, you have no idea how much they hel pme understand how to convey this story.**

 **Thanks for reading**

 **~NPP-VI**


	5. Chapter 5 - Cats and Demons

**Chapter 5**

 **Cats and Demons**

The group stopped short as they entered the gym. "What," Luna queried, "is that?"

On the stage was a scarecrow wearing a bright pink dress with a pair of grapefruit down the front and a long blonde wig with odangos. The scarecrow moved, and Gosunkugi began shouting, "Oh Ranma! The inept Tatewaki Kuno and fiendishly clever Hikaru Gosunkugi have captured me! Please come rescue me!"

Akane was livid. "That's supposed to be me? I look nothing like that! It looks more like Usagi than me!"

The girl with the unevenly cropped blonde curtains that reached her shoulder at its longest point reacted indignantly. "What are you talking about? I'd never wear my hair like that; it would get in the way whenever I tried to fight."

"Hey! Hello! I'm Akane and I'm trapped? Come and save me already."

Ranma sighed. "Let's get this over with so he'll stop bugging us."

* * *

"Great idea Ranma, 'let's get this over with.'" Akane motioned to the stage littered with weights, ropes, chains, and other various objects that had been flying in all directions a few moments ago.

Usagi put a finger to her chin. "I get the ceilings and walls, but how'd he get stuff to shoot from the floor too?"

Ranma shrugged. "Search me." He looked around. "Shoot, Luna got knocked down there, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did!" Came a voice from beneath the stage, "By the way Gosunkugi, did you really have to put nothing but males down here?"

The group looked over the edge. "You sure?" Ranma asked.

"Take my word for it. Honestly, it comes across as kind of sexist."

"I'm sorry, that's just whatever cats I found."

"Pff, figures."

"Are you alright Luna?"

"I'm fine Usagi, but we picked a _really_ bad time to drop me into a pit of tomcats. You want to give me a hand here?"

"What, am I not good enough?"

"Can you jump down here, grab me, and then jump back out? Akane you just focus on getting Ranma as far away from this particular mess as possible."

"Right." Akane and Ranma turned to leave. They were stopped in their tracks by an ear-shattering crack.

"Too much for the old stage?" Ranma offered.

"Too much for the old stage." Akane agreed.

The entire stage imploded.

"Okay," Ranma said, choking on dust, "Let's not do this again, agreed?"

"Akane," Luna coughed, "Allow me to redefine 'Get Ranma away from this mess.'"

The dust settled and the air cleared. "Is anyone going to stop Akane from throttling Gosunkugi?"

"I'm too busy not being afraid of the kitties."

"I'm too busy not paying attention to the kitties."

Usagi blinked as she saw Ranma and Luna leaning up against a pile of rubble. "Why do _I_ have to be the good guy?" She grumbled. Sighing, she redirected her attention. "Akane! We do need him to get out of here."

"Nope, the door's right there."

"N-no! NO! You can't open that door! There's a tiger on the other side!"

"A tiger…" Usagi rubbed her eyes. "You got a tiger. I'm not even going to ask what prompted you to do something so stupid, just show us how to get out." There was a pregnant pause. "You do have a way out, right?" Another pause. "Akane, please resume throttling him."

"Hello!"

"Oh no."

"Hello!" Kuno looked down into the pit that had been revealed when the stage cratered. "Gosunkugi, do you have Saotome's weakness yet?"

"Kuno! Throw a rope down to us or something!"

"Throw? Nay fair Akane, I shall bring it to you myself!"

"Bet you anything he screws this up," Ranma whispered.

"No bet, I wasn't born yesterday." Luna muttered back.

Kuno landed in the middle of the floor, a rope coiled neatly around him like a sash. "Your rope my lady." He blinked as he took in the scene around him. "By the way, what are we all doing down here?"

Usagi sighed, "Gosunkugi went a little overboard and now we're all trapped down here."

"Trapped? Nay my fair Usagi, your exit and rescue are at hand!"

As he reached for the door, there was a collective, "Kuno, no!"

Kuno turned to face the other five as he opened the door. "What?" A sound behind him prompted him to turn around and find himself face to face with an adult Bengal tiger. "Heh-heh." He started walking slowly backwards as the apex predator began stalking him. "Saotome, much as it pains me, I must suggest a truce. It seems we may have a mutual problem."

Luna sighed, "Unfortunately, Kuno's right. We've only got one way out of here."

Ranma shook as he looked down. "Just… just don't let me hurt anybody, alright?"

Akane nodded firmly while Usagi spoke from across the room, "Promise."

The boy steeled himself with a breath. "Alright then. Everyone over to the corner Usa's in. Kuno, I'm going to open this by hitting that thing with a special technique for cats, but I need you to draw it as far in here as possible. Keep backing up until you hear my signal, then break and run like crazy to protect the others."

"A samurai never runs Saotome!"

"I'm not asking you too, but somebody needs to make sure that thing doesn't get to Gosunkugi and the girls."

"…Fair enough. What's the signal?"

"I can't do it until the time's right, but you'll know it when you hear it."

Kuno nodded and continued stepping slowly backwards into the room.

Ranma watched as his friends gathered in one corner. Then he clenched his fists, took another steeling breath, and stepped into the center of the room, fire in his eyes. "Alright demons, I am Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Marshal Arts. I am the world's greatest martial artist, and I will defeat every last one of you. So you want me? Then. Come. And. GET ME!"

Running out of safe space and sensing his fear, the cats took him up on his invitation. He was covered, buried in cats. He fell to his knees, then to his hands. Suddenly something inside him broke, and he rose, cats flying off of him.

Kuno heard a deep "Rrrrrrrooooooowwwww" behind him and took that and the strange emotion it instilled to be Saotome's signal. He dove to one side and rolled, coming up running, that strange emotion seemed to help him move faster, but he still couldn't figure out what it was. He didn't stop until he reached the others, and when he did was shocked to find as he turned that Ranma was standing on one leg and hissing like a cat. "What is this madness?"

"The Neko-Ken." Usagi answered, "You want to reach Ranma's level? This is the kind of stupid thing you have to try. This is the kind of training, the kind of _torture_ you have to go through.

"You said something a few days back about the 'foul demon Saotome.' Well, you're about to see Ranma at his most demonic. If you really want a demon Saotome though, I suggest you find Genma."

Luna swore. She grimaced in response to everyone's questioning looks. "I just realized that I'm in the wrong form to be in when what's about to happen happens. I'll meet up with you when he comes out of it." She turned and somersaulted, vanishing into the sea of terrified cats.

Akane blinked. "She's a shapeshifter?"

Usagi sighed, "Something like that."

Gosunkugi whispered under his breath, "Who _are_ you people?"

At that moment Ranma and the tiger met, and the group's surroundings once more exploded.

* * *

Hiroshi and Daisuke looked at each other as they heard an explosion. Ranma, Akane, and Usagi were missing from class, so whatever it was, it had to be good.

They stood up, grabbed their bags, and walked out, the exhausted teacher and class not even noticing as they left.

* * *

Nabiki heard an explosion and looked up. Kuno was missing, so whatever it was, it had to be bad.

She bit her lip. There was a lot of time left in class, but nobody would likely notice if she left anyway. She stood up, put on her jacket, grabbed her bag, and walked out of the room.

* * *

Akane was sitting on the ground with Ranma curled up on her lap purring. Usagi, Kuno, and Gosunkugi (the latter two had fortunately missed the part where Ranma kissed Akane) were gathered around her in the small grove of trees.

"Now what?" The group looked over as Luna (again in human form) stepped out from behind one of the trees.

"We wait for him to wake up," Usagi provided, "He'll be fine, he just needs to sleep the Neko-Ken off."

"Hey!" They turned to see Hiroshi and Daisuke running towards them, Nabiki just a little bit behind them.

As they arrived and caught their breath, Daisuke asked, "What happened?"

Akane responded, "Kuno and Gosunkugi accidentally triggered the Neko-Ken." At their blank stares, she sighed, "Hyper-powerful cat style that takes control of the user." They nodded. "Anyway, we're just waiting for him to wake up now."

Luna groaned, "We really do need to get a plan together as fast as we can."

Nabiki shrugged. "Let's see if this works. Send a thief to catch a thief." She picked up a garden hose. "Send a curse to trump a curse. Sorry Ranma." Nabiki turned on the hose meant for filling up watering cans for the flower garden and pointed it at Ranma.

A female spluttering Ranma shot a glare at Nabiki, "What'd you go and do that for!?"

"We needed to wake you up Ranma, now can you please get off my lap?"

As the redhead scrambled to find new seating, Luna, Hiroshi, Daisuke, Gosunkugi, and Kuno stared in disbelief. "Ranma's… a girl?" Hiroshi finally asked.

"Only part-time. Shapeshifting curse, Jusenkyo, cursed training grounds, hot water reverses it, cold water triggers it, picked up in China, yet again thank you Genma." Usagi rattled off.

Gosunkugi blinked slowly. "Somehow… that… makes sense."

Kuno looked even more shellshocked if anything. "A-Akane… you… you associate with these sorts? A girl who is also a cat? A boy who is also a girl?"

Her gaze was level and unflinching, almost challenging. "Yes, I choose these as my friends."

"And… and me… what of… what about me? You would truly choose this… strange being over me?"

"Absolutely. Tatewaki Kuno I would take eternal solitude, an early grave, or infertility over you. I would choose Ranma over you in a heartbeat." None noticed the slight change in the wind that lasted only a moment.

"I… I see… I truly am that terrible then?"

"Yes. And the same goes for you Gosunkugi." The repetition of the wind trick went unnoticed again.

Before either boy could sink into any further depression, Nabiki sighed and cut off conversation by tossing Ranma a hot water bottle from her bag (everyone in the house kept at least one on them at all times now at Kasumi's insistence). "Well Gosunkugi, Kuno, as stupid as it was for you guys to trigger the Neko-Ken, in a way we have to thank you for it."

Usagi looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone came running after that explosion. We can now get to planning with all our available resources since we know that this group constitutes everyone in the school who's left…"

"Unzombied?" Hiroshi offered.

Nabiki thought for a moment. "Fine, unzombied. We are the only people left in Furinkan High unzombied."

Ranma, Akane, Usagi, Nabiki, Luna, Hiroshi, Daisuke, Gosunkugi, and Kuno looked at each other. "That's not a comforting thought." Daisuke summarized.

* * *

Nabiki looked up at the knock on her doorframe.

"Hey Nabiki, need to talk?" Akane asked. At Nabiki's nod, Akane shut the door and took a seat next to her sister on the edge of the bed.

"Akane I… I'm scared. So scared it's not even funny. I'm past scared, I'm terrified."

"That's alright Nabiki, we all are. Even Kuno and Ranma, not that they'd admit it."

"I know, but I'm not supposed to be scared. I'm not supposed to feel fear. I'm the Ice Queen; I'm supposed to be emotionless."

"I don't know what you're 'supposed' to be, but I know what you are. You are Nabiki, and only you can decide what that means. You don't have to be a fighter, or a mercenary, or an Ice Queen, or anything besides what you choose to be."

"…Thanks Akane. When did you get so wise anyway?"

Her sister grimaced. "Actually I was just paraphrasing something Kasumi told me the night Ranma showed up."

Ranma and Usagi looked up as Akane came down the stairs. "She's not coming."

Ranma nodded. "Probably for the best."

"And just _**what**_ is that supposed to mean!?"

"That she knows where we'll likely be and if she wants she can join us when she's ready, not before."

"Well, let's go." Usagi cut in, "Don't want to be late saving Nerima."

The three left without ever noticing the eavesdropper in the kitchen.

* * *

Fifteen minutes or so after Ranma, Akane, and Usagi had left, Kasumi knocked on Nabiki's door. "Nabiki? Do you want something to eat? Nabiki?"

Getting no response, she gently eased open the door and walked in to find Nabiki's room empty, her window open. Silently she walked over and slid aside a hidden panel, revealing a secret compartment. A briefcase that usually held a jumpsuit was now sitting empty and open, the only item in the cache. Missing were the jumpsuit, tactical vest, and black motorcycle helmet. She gazed at the blue shield emblem on the briefcase. "I knew you had it in you Nabiki."

Not bothering to open the girl's box springs and check which weapons she had taken with her, Kasumi exited the room, leaving it exactly the way she found it.

* * *

Eight high schoolers were clustered around a jewelry shop. Ranma and Usagi were both unarmed as usual. Also as usual, Kuno had his bokken at his side. Akane had a simple bo staff. Gosunkugi had pulled out all the stops, and with his rosaries and Shinto staff at least _looked_ the part of an exorcist. Luna had borrowed a pair of clawed gloves from the Martial Arts Rock Climbing team. Daisuke had a baseball bat on his shoulder and a baseball cap on backwards, a fanny pack with several baseballs in it around his waist. Hiroshi hade a pair of twelve-inch single edged knives, with a double-edged dagger on his belt making a matched set.

A scream from inside the shop cut the planning session short.

Kuno and Daisuke leapt into the street.

"Strike! Strike! Strike!"

"Yer' out!"

The hinges of the door blew out under the force of Kuno's air stabs as a baseball struck the window next to it at ninety miles an hour and ripped the security curtain from the wall.

"GO!" Luna shouted.

Ranma and Usagi front flipped through the window and tipped over a display case to make a defensive barricade. Hiroshi hit the door feet first and the door fell, the latch coming loose under the impact, allowing him to ride the door in like a skateboard.

At the intrusion, a demonic… thing looked up as it stood over the unconscious Naru. "Youma!" Luna identified from where she and Akane were crouched outside the broken window.

Running low on momentum, Hiroshi kickflipped the door up into the creature. As the youma was knocked back, he rushed forward and grabbed Naru, Daisuke's fastballs and Kuno's power strikes acting as cover fire so that he could get their friend to safety.

Within seconds the entire group was inside the shop and behind display cases that they had flipped on their sides.

"Luna, you're the expert, tell us when!" Ranma shouted.

"We've got a problem! I'm out of baseballs!"

"Daisuke," Akane responded, "You're literally surrounded by some of the hardest substances on the planet, I'm sure you can think of something!"

"Don't touch the glowing grey ones!" Hiroshi reminded. (The change had occurred slightly before sunset. It seemed their enemy was upping their game.)

"No duh!" Daisuke returned. Various pieces of jewelry began impacting the demon.

"I don't believe it," Luna whispered under her breath, "We're actually doing it. We're actually beating a youma without a sailor senshi." She watched as the creature struggled its way towards the window and the key fighters in front of it. As it reached the center of the room, she cried out, "NOW!" The cat girl hopped over the case she was behind and led the charge.

Luna reached the youma first. As it punched down at her, she dodged – easier now that her cat reflexes had attuned to this body as well – jumping up and kicking off of the creature's arm. She then flipped over its head, twisting in midair so that she could rake her claws down its back. She had discovered that fighting was far easier when it was familiar.

The beast roared and arched its back in pain, leaving an opening that Ranma and Usagi took advantage of to blow past it, delivering a pair of kidney punches as they rushed by.

The beast doubled over in pain and Akane struck. Its head snapped up from the force of her uppercut as she spun, bringing her staff around on the other side and stabbing at its chest, shattering its sternum. She followed that up with another swipe/stab combo, hooking its head down and to one side before flipping up and over it, stabbing down at its back and breaking its spine.

Hiroshi was next, darting in and slashing its stomach. As the youma reached for him, he slit its wrists and rolled between its legs, hamstringing it. He came up running as it collapsed to its knees.

Kuno and Daisuke came at it from the sides, delivering drive by hits. The creature's upper arms shattered beneath bat and bokken. Daisuke rolled and Kuno jumped over him as both boys ran behind their enemy and out of reach to either side.

As the creature leaned forward from the pain and force of the blows, Gosunkugi finished it off, swinging a massive lead cross like a flail and slamming it into the back of the thing's skull.

The demon collapsed, black fluid that they assumed was blood pooling under it as the group gathered around their fallen foe.

"Did we… beat it?" Luna panted.

Almost in answer, the beast began dissolving into a powder-like, almost sandy substance.

"Did we kill it?" Hiroshi corrected.

The sand stuff flowed to one side and formed up again. "No, not quite." The youma answered. Luna and Usagi were thrown through the wall with one sweep of its hand.


	6. Chapter 6 - Sailor Moon

**Chapter 6**

 **Sailor Moon**

"I must say," The youma said over the exclamations and expletives of its opponents, "You are quite good for mortals. If my ability weren't regeneration, you would have had me. Ah, I will enjoy devouring your life force, I do hope I absorb some of your skills with it."

The creature went to stab Daisuke, but recoiled as its head vanished with an explosive "BANG!"

Its body snapped forward, head reforming as it did so. It looked to the doorway and saw a figure in a jumpsuit, full motorcycle helmet, and tactical vest, all of which were black. The only color on the woman was the metal of the bullets and shotgun shells and the blue shield insignia on her shoulders. The shotgun she had fired was still pointed at the youma.

The beast chuckled dryly, "And just what exactly was that supposed to do?" The figure's only response was to point at the ground in front of the youma. As the demon looked, said space was very obviously empty. "You let my prey escape!"

"Straight up. Everyone! Scatter and stay scattered! Use every bit of cover you can get your hands on! Ranged attacks only! That includes you Saotome!"

"Tell me," the youma asked, "Just what are you hoping to accomplish here? Not a single one of you would-be heroes is capable of defeating me; you're just wasting your time."

"Then it's a good thing we have a different mission than that. Beating you isn't our objective. There will always be heroes, so we don't have to kill you to win." The black clad warrior racked her shotgun's action. "We just have to outlast you and slow you down. We're not wasting time; we're buying enough for the inevitable hero to arrive." She lined up the shot and pulled the trigger.

* * *

Considering they had just been bodily ejected through a wall quite forcefully, Luna and Usagi would have had a hard time getting luckier. When Naru's mother had bought the shop, it had had a side door that opened into a small alley. For security reasons it had been removed, but financial issues meant that instead of bricking it off, the decision had been made to put a trio of two by fours across it, cover it with plywood, and paint it over. It was this portion of the wall that Luna and Usagi put a new door in with their involuntary exit, and thus the only casualty was an interesting bit of graffiti.

Luna was the first to wake up. She was again a cat, the disguise pen on the pavement next to her.

The cat took the opportunity to sneak a peek at the fight. There was a new arrival, and the others seemed to be holding their own, so she had time. She resumed her disguise.

Usagi woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. "Usagi! Usagi!" She opened her eyes and saw Luna kneeling over her.

"Luna… is the fight… over?"

Luna shook her head at the slightly groggy girl. "No, we just got thrown clear, the fight's still going on inside… Things aren't going to end well. They're doing alright for now, but it's a losing battle.

"I've… I've got to help them!" Usagi struggled to her feet.

"Yes you do, but not as you are now. They don't need a martial artist Usagi, they've already got plenty of those, and some of the best at that. They need someone who can win this fight. They need a senshi. They need Sailor Moon."

Several emotions warred in Usagi's heart and mind. In the end, her need to protect her friends won out.

After a brief pause, lights danced in the alley.

* * *

Hiroshi was feeling rather foolish. He had gone in for a reckless attack on the youma's back and now he was pinned.

The youma smiled ferally at its prey as it reached up in preparation to stab the boy. Then its arm fell off, turning into dust and dissipating on an unfelt wind before it hit the ground. The creature was used to losing body parts by this point, so its reaction to the initial pain was minimal. It looked up in confusion however, when its arm failed to rematerialize. It was then blown apart as the black clad figure emptied her shotgun.

Hiroshi took the opportunity to roll away, get up, and run. As the youma reformed, the group watched a golden disc arc its way back around as its owner stepped from the shadows to catch it.

The girl was blonde, dressed in a white sleeveless sailor fuku with combat bracers, a dark blue skirt, and knee high boots. "Who are you?" The nameless warrior asked.

"She's Sailor Moon." Luna stepped out of the shadows. "Captain of the Lunar Royal Guard."

"You just _had_ to go off about the inevitable hero." The youma cut in.

"Who are _you_?" Sailor Moon ignored the creature.

"My codename is Spectre." The black-clad soldier responded. She tapped the blue shield shaped patch on one of her shoulders. "I work for MITHRIL, an international antiterrorism organization." She turned to the still armless youma. "So, Hero's here, and she can obviously beat you. What now?"

"Now? Well, after the obvious posturing, monologuing, and dialogue which will likely include what only passes for wit and banter when you're completely jacked up on adrenaline, we fight to the death."

Sailor Moon recoiled, stepping back and blinking rapidly as she waved her hands in front of her. "What? You m-mean… no… no, I… I won't… I can't kill."

The demon smiled sinisterly. "That's the problem with you heroes. You just have too many rules. You always have to do the 'right' thing." The creature's remaining arm transformed into a blade. "Whereas I am going to kill everyone in this room, and then I'm going to suck dry every last drop of life force in in this city."

"No." Sailor Moon gasped.

Spectre ditched her shotgun to draw one of her handguns and opened fire on the thing to cover her own charge across the room, dragging Sailor Moon out of the way as a cluster of spikes speared through the space she vacated.

The martial artists leapt into action, keeping the creature reeling with hit and run tactics supported by ranged and diversionary attacks.

A rose shot in and landed between the beast's feet, growing into four vines that bound the creature body and limb. A man stood in the shattered window wearing a tuxedo, mask, and top hat. He was holding his cane like a sword as his cape billowed dramatically behind him. The visual effect was lost on his audience, but the prelude to his entrance was much appreciated. "Sailor Moon, if you're going to stop that youma, now would be a good time."

The girl in question looked down and shook. Tears fell. "I… I c-can't –" She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Spectre, her other hand extended.

"Then let me."

Shakily, hesitantly, Sailor Moon brought up her tiara and placed it in Spectre's hand. As she went to withdraw her own hand however, Spectre removed her other hand from the girl's shoulder and stopped her. "It doesn't work like that. Magical combat training was minimal because they didn't think I'd encounter it, but I know just enough to know that it has to be _your_ magic. I can throw it, but _you_ have to power the spell. _You_ have to say the words."

Sailor Moon closed her eyes. "Moon… Tiara… Boomerang." The tiara began to glow. Spectre swung her arm and the tiara left their joined hands. The golden disc arced through the air and clove off the majority of the youma's head. As the creature turned to dust and dissipated, the tiara returned to Sailor Moon, who caught it more out of reflex than anything.

The group took a moment to recover. After a few seconds, Daisuke broke the silence, "Naru's waking up."

Almost on cue, the fighters heard sirens in the distance. Akane did a double take. "Wait, what? We have police? I didn't know we had police in Nerima!"

"In any case," Luna said, "We've got to get out of here. Now."

Spectre nodded. "Hit the streets and rooftops. Scatter. We'll regroup at the local high school."

* * *

Nine individuals sat and stood in various positions in front of the gates of Furinkan High School.

"So where'd Tuxedo Guy go?" Ranma questioned.

"I saw him car surfing the train to Juuban." Gosunkugi offered.

Akane voiced the thought on everyone's minds, "So what now?"

"Now?" Luna responded, "Now we wait. Watch. Survive. There will be more youma, and we may need to pull a stunt like this again, but for now we need to focus on living our lives."

"What, just go home and pretend like this never happened!?" Daisuke exclaimed.

Spectre cut in, "No. But she's right. This is a secret war and like it or not, everyone here is a part of it now. We don't know enough about our enemies to do anything to them, so we have to wait for them to make the next move. For now focus on preserving your cover. Train. Get ready. And when the time comes, we blow these guys away."

"I have a question," Daisuke interjected, "What happened to Usagi?"

Only Akane noticed the split second where Luna, Sailor Moon, and Ranma froze up and restarted.

Sailor Moon thought fast. "Your blonde friend? She was still unconscious from going through the wall when I arrived. I moved her to a safe place several blocks away before joining the fight. Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets home alright."

Ranma gave Sailor Moon a searching look. "Alright, I trust yo _USa_ ilor Moon." The senshi blinked in surprise as she caught the message. "Just make sure she's home by dawn." Sailor Moon nodded in reply.

Spectre spoke up again, "On that note, it's a school night, so you should all probably head home now."

Goodbyes were made and the group again separated into the night.

* * *

Nabiki pulled herself over her windowsill and hit the auto-retractor on the rappel/grapple line attached to her shutters. She took off her helmet, tossing it onto her bed as she slowed herself a sigh of relief that she had somehow managed to pull it off.

As she reached up to unzip her jumpsuit, a voice behind her stopped her. "So, MITHRIL, huh?" She turned to see her younger sister sitting in her open window. "Hello Spectre."

Nabiki swore.

* * *

Usagi quietly slid the back door open and slipped inside. Silently she closed it and turned around. She stopped short with a squeak as she saw Ranma sitting there waiting for her, eyebrow raised. "So," he began, "What's the whole Sailor Moon thing about?"

Usagi laughed sheepishly.

* * *

Akane shook her head. "I can't make that promise Nabiki."

Nabiki's eyes were pleading. "Akane, you can't tell _anyone_ about this, _please_! It's not about me, it's about the safety of our family."

Akane closed her eyes. "I need an exception. There's one person I absolutely _have_ to tell."

* * *

Ranma sighed, "So that's what's going on. Alright, I'll keep the secret safe, but there's one person I don't have a choice about telling."

Usagi blinked. "What do you mean? Who?"

* * *

In two rooms of the same house, upstairs and down, Ranma and Akane did exactly the same thing in unison.

Their eyes were closed. They bowed their heads and took a breath. "After the whole fiasco with the Neko-Ken earlier, Kasumi made me swear, on my honor as a martial artist, that I wouldn't keep any secrets from Akane/Ranma. I have to tell her/him."

* * *

Nabiki sighed, "Makes sense I suppose, no secrets between fiancées." She steamrolled Akane's objections to continue, "But I need you to promise me, nobody else."

Akane nodded. "I swear it. On my honor as a martial artist, I will only reveal your identity as Spectre and your association with MITHRIL to Ranma."

* * *

Usagi nodded. "Yeah, between your past and Genma's, and the panda's current schemes, that's probably for the best. But please Ranma, nobody else."

"I swear to you, on my honor as a martial artist, I won't tell anyone but Akane that you're Sailor Moon."

* * *

Akane walked in the front door of the house to find Ranma sitting on the stairs. "Waiting up for me?"

"Kinda, we need to talk."

"Yes we do."

"Kitchen?"

"Sounds good."

The two teenagers walked into the room, quietly shutting the door behind them. Ranma opened the freezer and pulled out a couple of tubs of ice cream before walking over to the sink and splashing himself with cold water. "This way it's completely innocent if someone walks in on us," she explained, walking back to the table and grabbing a pair of spoons along the way.

"Plus it gives you the chance to eat ice cream as a girl."

"Hey! It tastes better this way, I can't help it."

They ate in silence for a minute – just to make their "innocent" ruse more believable of course.

Akane decided blunt was probably best with Ranma, "So, remember Spectre?"

"From the fight tonight? Yeah, what about her?"

"She's Nabiki."

"No way."

Akane nodded.

"What tipped you off?"

"Please Ranma, she's my sister. It was her threats. I grew up with those threats. I could spot a Nabiki Tendo threat a mile away. Besides, I caught her in that jumpsuit sneaking back into the house."

Ranma laughed, "Figures."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Short explanation? Usa's Sailor Moon."

"You're kidding. She doesn't even look anything like her."

"Oh? So tell me then, what _does_ Sailor Moon look like?"

"She looks like… I don't remember… But I do know that she doesn't look anything like Usa and they couldn't possibly be… Oh."

"That's what tipped me off. If there's one thing the old man taught me, it was how to figure out who people really are. So I compared their ki as best I could. I'm not really adept, but I know enough to at least get a surface reading, and besides, Usa's my sister, I've trained with her enough that I'd know her ki anywhere. Then I dropped a message hidden in a Freudian slip at the school and she caught it. And to top it off I caught her sneaking in the back door tonight, assumed I was right as I confronted her, and got the whole story."

"You're quite the detective Ranma."

"I had to learn how to see through schemes to keep Usa out of trouble for the past three years. It's just survival for us."

"…That sucks… and we've got a lot of talking to do."

"Which is why I got out the ice cream."

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, first and foremost, apologies to everyone who felt I came off a little strong in my last Author's Note. I sometimes forget that you can't read that tone I'm typing in. (Sheepish grin and chuckle here) I really do greatly appreciate your comments, questions, concerns, and reviews.**

 **Second, before anyone asks, I came up with the concept of Spectre as a character several years ago when I was working on a different story that I may or may not reboot. There is no hidden 007 reference there.**

 **And yes, that was in the plan from the start. The story is Rise of the _Seven_ Dragons after all.**

 **Alrighty then, business taken care of. Thanks for reading,**

 **~NPP-VI**


	7. Chapter 7 - New Arrival

**Chapter 7**

 **New Arrivals**

Ranma, Akane, Usagi, Nabiki, and Kuno were sitting in an unused classroom. Naturally none of the five had been made aware of the _reason_ that they had been pulled out of class.

The door opened, and a uniformed police officer walked in, Naru trailing behind him. "So," The man said, "We have here what the staff identified as the worst troublemakers in the school. Based on the rumors circulating about their skills and overdeveloped senses of honor, they'll protect you from anyone, including each other. So. Naru. You can be completely open and honest. I realize that there's a chance that they're in this room right now, but you're still safe, it's not like they're all in on it. So why don't you tell us what happened last night?"

Naru paled, her eyes narrowing shortly afterwards as her friends did their best to not react. (The girls pulled it off, and Ranma managed to turn his surprise into curiosity, but Kuno just looked constipated.) "I'm sorry we've wasted your time everyone. You can go now."

"Pay no attention to that comment. Naru, just tell us what happened."

"I already told you what happened."

"No no no no no. Not a fantasy, not a fiction, not a dream or a hallucination or whatever it was that let you pass the poly. I want the **truth**! What happened last night? Who hurt you and destroyed your mother's shop?"

"I already told you. I don't remember anything after the monster showed up. The only things I saw on the security footage were a girl in white and a girl in black fighting it, then the terminal blew up. I'm still here, so I can only assume that they won."

The officer slammed his hands on the teacher's desk. "Come on girl, just give me the miscreant! I know you're lying, and the chief seems to be in on it for some reason! This is Tokyo! Nerima! Monsters aren't real!"

That final shout was punctuated by a roar from outside ripping through the room.

Akane was the closest, and yanked open a set of blinds to reveal a twenty foot tall mutant chicken on a rampage. Nabiki was blasé, "Oh look, a monster."

Ranma stood, mentally shifting into combat mode. "Alright, Nabiki," The desktops kept anyone from seeing Akane step on his foot as a reminder. "Rooftop. We need an eye in the sky for strategy. By the look of that thing's twisted wings, I'm betting it can't fly, so we lucked out there. Usagi," This time Ranma moved his foot before Akane found it. She kicked him in the shin instead. "Find Luna, she's our resident monster expert. Naru, stay away from the windows. In fact, go through the halls and make sure everyone else knows to do that too. Kuno, Akane, let's get down there."

Akane cut in, "If we go out the window we'll turn this school into a buffet line in that thing's eyes."

Ranma nodded. "Okay, front door it is then."

The group began filing out, only to be halted by a shout. "Wait a second! You're not going anywhere!"

Usagi rolled her eyes at the officer. "And you're planning on stopping us… how? Short version is that you're less important to us than the supposedly nonexistent monster out there threatening our friends, so…" She shrugged.

"You're not leaving my sight until I have my answers."

"Then by all means," Kuno swung his bokken and the blinds fell, cut from the air pressure of his swing. "Watch."

The officer sank into a chair, stunned. After a few moments, he snapped out of it and turned to the windows and the ongoing fight outside. As he watched the damage go back and forth, it slowly dawned on him just how many of his words he was going to have to eat.

Ranma dropped between Usagi and Luna as they came running around the side of the school. "So, is this a youma, or…"

Luna shook her head. "No, it's not a youma, which is why Sailor Moon likely won't be making an appearance. What do we know about it?"

"It's a giant mutant chicken of some kind. That's basically it."

"That's it?"

"We've had all of five minutes to study this thing Luna, give us a break, would ya?" Ranma didn't even flinch as the chicken stabbed down at him with its beak only to have its head jerk sharply to one side. It straightened, glowering at the exercise field, welt from the fastball already reddening.

"You're lucky we have gym right now!" Hiroshi hollered.

"I knew you two were there!" Ranma bellowed back.

Hiroshi was riding towards them on a collapsible skateboard while holding what looked like a mop handle. Daisuke was running behind him, a baseball bat slung over one shoulder and a bag of balls on his waste again.

"We've got a present for Luna too!" Daisuke shouted as Hiroshi tossed a small bundle to the cat girl.

Luna unwrapped it to find the clawed gloves, borrowed from the Martial Arts Rock Climbing team again. As she pulled then on, she voiced the question on everyone's minds, "What now?"

Ranma shrugged. "According to Spectre this is the part where we fight with everything we've got and wait for the inevitable hero to arrive."

Luna gave a feline grin. "Fair enough, then let's clip some feathers."

Several minutes later a rather bald mutant chicken was failing miserably at a game of whack-a-mole against the various protectors of Nerima.

A girl in a pink miniskirt with a cat's ears and tail jumped over the fence, did a front flip that she extended into a somersault when she touched down, finished in what she no doubt considered a very impressive pose, looked up, and did a double take.

Ranma turned to Luna. "One of yours?"

She shook her head. "Not anyone _I_ know."

The boy sighed, "Figures. It _would_ have to be a c-c-cat girl."

Mew Ichigo was dumbstruck. She had heard the screams and seen the flying feathers. When she came over the wall, she was expecting to find a scene of panic and chaos as the kimera tore a school apart.

What she had found instead was that the screams were actually battlecries, and that a kimera was losing a battle with a group of ordinary humans, _half of whom weren't even armed._

"Ryou," She spoke into her headset, "Are you seeing this?"

Her… associate's voice came back to her, "Seeing and believing are two very different things."

"Hey!" Mew Ichigo looked over to see a guy who looked slightly older than her and was holding a Shinto priest's staff (What she didn't notice was that he was the only person there who was breathing hard) "Are you here for this guy?" She nodded. "Well then, if you're going to do something, now would probably be the best time to do it. They're trying not to hurt it too bad, since it seems like it's in a lot of pain, but pretty soon here they're not going to be able to keep it contained." Ichigo nodded again. The boy turned and yelled to the active fighters, "Ready!"

Four ropes flew into the air, crossing over the kimera Gulliver style. They didn't bring it do the ground, but they did tangle it up and hold it in place as the creature struggled against them.

Mew Ichigo went airborne. "In the name of the Earth, I'm here to stop you. Ribbon! Strawberry! Check!" She swung her bell and an energy arc pierced the kimera. It separated into two creatures, a bald chicken and a black jellyfish looking thing that Masha swooped on and ate.

The fighters didn't lose time. As soon as the battle was over, they were working to clean up the majority of the damage, Mew Ichigo simply watching in awe. The girl jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Turning, she found herself facing another boy, this one wearing a red shirt. "We'll handle cleanup and stuff; you get back to wherever you're supposed to be. We'll wat here after school until you can show up as either you."

A girl walked up, this one looking only a little older than her. "Fortunately, I don't have school to get in the way of anything. I'll travel with you a short way and get a few necessities out of the way." She handed the boy a pair of clawed gloves.

He groaned. "Luna, _please_ no c-c-catfights. You already know who they're going to send in to break it up."

The girl, apparently Luna, laughed. At Mew Ichigo's confused look, she shook her head. "Explanations another day. For now, we've got some slightly more pressing things to discuss."

The two girls walked off through the gate, talking quietly. The rest of the crew finished cleaning up to the point that the Martial Arts Construction Dojo would be able to fix everything, and then went to the roof of the school to wait for the girls' return.

Luna showed up about fifteen minutes later and reminded them that they still had classes to attend.

Mew Ichigo closed her eyes and braced herself, waiting for them to reject her explanation.

Akane nodded. "Okay."

The cat girl opened her eyes in shock. Of all the reactions she had been expecting, that… wasn't. "Okay?"

Nabiki shrugged. "Yeah, why not? Makes more sense than some of _our_ backstories."

Mew Ichigo shook her head to clear it. "Why are you all just accepting this?"

Usagi gave her a pitying look as she channeled Kasumi. "Oh my. You really don't have any idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you?"

Luna sighed, "Ranma, you know what the best short version is, right?"

The boy matched her sigh with a grumble, "Yeah, yeah, I'll do it." He upended a bottle of water over his head, triggering the shift. She gave a little feminine twirl, pulled another bottle out of her bag, and walked up to Mew Ichigo. She put the younger girl's hand on her shoulder as she made eye contact and emptied the bottle over herself. The boy turned and walked back to his spot, resuming his seat as he wrung his shirt out. "Usagi, I told Daisuke, Hiroshi, Naru, Yuka, and Sayuri when they found out. It's your turn to explain Jusenkyo."

All eyes turned to the blonde. "Heh heh… Right, so we were in China…"

The group watched as Mew Ichigo faded into the distance. They collectively froze as the peaceful scene was broken by the roof access door opening behind them.

They turned to see Naru, Yuka, and Sayuri standing there. Naru cut off their explanations, "Relax, if I was going to blab your secrets, I wouldn't have destroyed the security footage of your fight last night. I just wanted an explanation, and now I've got enough of one to keep me happy."

"So what's with the entourage?" Daisuke pointed out.

Yuka laughed, "Don't you know? Girls never go _anywhere_ alone."

Sayuri elbowed her good naturedly. "Naru needed some help dealing with the rent-a-cop currently wandering around in the basement. Officer Brainpower has decided that you're heroes and need to be publicly recognized for it."

Eyerolls, facepalms, and similar physical commentary on the man's intelligence went around the roof.

The group had dwindled down to those living at the Tendo home plus one. On the walk home from school, the others had split off, individually or in twos and threes, as their roads diverged.

Luna was the last one to leave. She waved goodbye and turned to go, when Akane's voice stopped her. "Luna, where are you staying?"

The cat girl froze, desperately trying to think of something. "I… I have a place."

"Where?" Akane repeated.

Luna started running. She made it all of three steps before Ranma landed in front of her, blocking her way. "Let me through Ranma."

"Not until you answer the question."

Luna's eyes darted back and forth. She couldn't transform with Nabiki around and human she wouldn't have been able to escape from Ranma _alone_ , with the other three helping him, she had no chance. She was trapped. "Why does this matter to you?"

"On a wild guess I'd say it's because they consider you their friend." Nabiki drawled.

Luna shut her eyes and dropped her head, shaking slightly. "Fine," She spat, "I've been sleeping under a bridge. Congratulations, you've publicly embarrassed me successfully, happy now?"

She felt arms slip around her from behind and pull her into a warm hug. "No," Usagi's voice was soft in her ear, "You're our friend Luna, we could _never_ be happy that you're homeless, or facing _**any**_ difficulty."

"And we're certainly not going to let you _keep_ living under a bridge." Akane added, "You're staying with us from now on."

Ranma rubbed his eyes with one hand. "I'm going to have to walk to and from school as a girl to escape the death glares and rumors, aren't I?"

"At least you won't have to do the paperwork to get Luna into the school," Nabiki pointed out.

Ranma was already sitting at the kitchen table eating her ice cream when Akane walked in. "Trouble sneaking out past Luna?"

"No, she just had a hard time getting to sleep. She's up on the roof with Usagi right now. Both of them are purring like kittens."

Ranma shuddered. "Please don't use those words if you don't need to."

"Sorry." Akane sighed, "Nabiki's not happy about our current housing situation, and I can't say that I totally blame her. We're getting overcrowded. This house just isn't built for the number of people that keep arriving. If we pick up even one more drifter, we'll have to start putting people in the dojo."

Ranma brightened. "Actually, that I might have a solution for." He told Akane the rumor he'd heard and the idea it had given him.

Akane blinked. "That's… actually, that's a good idea. I'm sure Nabiki, Kasumi, or Daddy would have the address. We'll talk to everyone about it at breakfast tomorrow, see what they think about it. If they agree you can go by after school tomorrow."

Ranma nodded. "Let's just hope that we can get a little peace and quiet tomorrow so that I can make things work."

They both stared at each other for a moment before devolving into helpless giggles.

 **A/N: Apologies for the update delay. Life happened. Should be back to a chapter every week this weekend.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Martial Arts Construction

**Chapter 8**

 **Martial Arts Construction**

The next day at breakfast Ranma and Akane got their plan approved and finalized. Surprisingly, the group actually _did_ manage to successfully complete a school day without interruptions.

After school that day, a pigtailed martial artist walked into the Martial Arts Construction Dojo. "Hey! I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts! I'm here to challenge this dojo!"

Activity in the room paused. One man, presumably the dojo master, waved for Ranma to come forward. "Ah, very good. Come, we will discuss the terms of your challenge." Ranma followed the man into a small side room and took a seat across a tea table from him.

Ranma's small fears about this turning into a tea ceremony dissipated when the man simply poured himself some tea and began sipping it, motioning for Ranma to do the same. After a few moments of quietly enjoying his tea, the man spoke. "I am Master Satoshi Nakamura. Not many come to challenge our dojo purely for the sake of the fight, so it would probably be best to get the terms out of the way first."

Ranma smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I was going to ask for some help remodeling a house…"

The man nodded. "And if you lose?"

"I don't lose."

Master Nakamura raised an eyebrow. "If the fight is so one-sided that the only stated terms are for your victory, then why would we enter it?"

Ranma blinked. "Oh." He blinked a couple more times. "Oh."

"Let me guess, you usually give the counter challenge?"

The boy rubbed his neck again. "Actually, I never bothered. I just… won."

Nakamura laughed, "Yes, I'm sure you did. Very well then, why don't you tell me exactly what you need done, and I'll make an offer for counter stakes, sound like a plan?"

Ranma nodded. "Basically we need a floor inserted between the second floor and the roof of the Tendo home. I was told that these would be the measurements you need." He passed the man a small piece of paper.

"Any design requests?"

"Bedrooms. Lots of bedrooms."

"Hmm…" A pad of paper and a pencil were pulled from under the table. Nakamura looked the measurements over, and in a few minutes, a small rough draft blueprint was placed in front of Ranma. "Is this roughly what you're looking for?" Ranma looked at the design. Seven bedrooms, each connected to two balconies, one inside the house, one outside.

"Yeah, looks good."

"Alright then, here's my counter offer. I have a niece who attends Furinkan High. She's been having some trouble with bullies. Kogane's a sweet girl, and can take care of herself skill wise, but her desire to not hurt anyone comes across as weakness to those kinds of people. I want your little group to take her under your wing. Protect her."

Ranma bristled slightly. "I'm afraid you've misread the situation sir. My friends and I aren't a gang."

"Haha, no, you're not, and I apologize if I came across that way. But please understand, most people are starting to think of you and your friends as a power in the political game of Nerima. On your first day here Mr. Saotome you challenged the established regime of Furinkan High by breaking dress code – _and got away with it_ – you got engaged to essentially the top martial artist your age in town, thoroughly thrashed the second best, identified yourself, your sister, and your fiancée as a definitive group, defeated the playboy kendo champion a second time, and then broke for lunch.

"Rumor has it that yesterday all of your school's 'worst troublemakers' were gathered to answer some questions. Tell me; was anyone there _not_ a part of your group?" Ranma shook his head. "You're a group that clearly defines itself in conduct, appearance, attire, and attributes, and you're gaining reputation, power, influence, and people. No, you're not a gang, but only because you aren't getting into that kind of trouble. I suppose the best word for it would be to call you a crew.

"People are already talking about you that way. 'Those kids at Furinkan High that don't wear uniforms, yeah, that's the next generation of legendary fighters there,' is not uncommon to hear in the local shops and gossip chains.

"So that's my counter offer to you, my bet. You and your friends take my niece under your wing, protect her, help her."

Ranma was quiet for a moment. "You realize that being identified with me and my friends'll probably cause her _more_ problems, right?"

"Yes. But I also realize that she'll _have_ friends to help her face those problems. Friends who won't abandon her, who will face flood, fire, and famine with her."

Ranma stared at the table. "How will we recognize her?"

"She'll be breaking dress code, as per usual for your crew. She'll seek you out at lunch."

Ranma sighed and looked up to meet Nakamura's eyes. "We've got a deal."

* * *

Satoshi sighed as he watched the last of his students hit the floor. They had run the challenger through a gauntlet of fights to first drop.

Ranma hadn't lost a fight.

The boy confirmed that there were no more opponents, then hopped out of the small ring they had set up. On his way to the door, he tossed over his shoulder, "Let us know when you're ready, you know where to find us." When he actually reached the door, he paused on the threshold. Silhouetted by the evening light, he half turned and met Satoshi's eyes from across the room. "Tell your niece to come out of uniform tomorrow." And then he was gone.

Satoshi sat there for a moment, thinking. _Yes,_ he decided, _if he can survive Nerima, that boy will go far. He may even change the world._

* * *

Akane put her head in her hands. "You know, I had a relatively normal life before I met you." She glowered at the redhead across the table.

Ranma sighed and looked down at the ice cream she still hadn't touched. "I know. I'm sorry Akane, I just… I can't…" She trailed off.

"Can't leave a fight unfought or a bully unfaced?"

Both teens froze at the voice from the kitchen door.

"Kasumi! I swear, this ain't what it looks like!"

"I know Ranma. If it were I would have let you know I was chaperoning you a while ago. Most people would look at this and see a clever date. I'm looking at a pair of friends trying to help each other and everyone around them. Still though… This is starting to become a regular thing, so you should have someone else present. To protect your reputations if nothing else."

"You mean… you knew?"

"From the first night Akane. Who do you think keeps stocking the freezer with ice cream?"

Akane blinked. "Magic self-stocking freezer is not unlikely. At all. Not in my world."

Kasumi suddenly looked rather contemplative. "Actually…"

* * *

Gosunkugi stared in awe. Before him at the shoe lockers stood a vision of loveliness. The tone of the voices in his vicinity eventually snapped the boy out of his stargazing. As he heard what the three girls in front of his angel were saying to her, he felt the raw power of rage boiling over in him.

But wait! He was a hero now! Quickly he whipped out one of the rosaries he was wearing under his clothes. Aiming only slightly at the middle girl of the trio, he let the cross fly.

* * *

Kogane flinched at yet another remark. Under the fresh assault, her newfound confidence had faltered. Her uncle had said that she would have a chance to make some new friends today, but now…

As she felt herself about to break into tears, a cross came flying over her shoulder to shoot over the other girls' heads. It kept going past them, striking the wall and breaking the fire sprinkler.

Kogane felt herself being pulled by the collar of her shirt to one side just as the water began spraying.

"Hi there," The girl who had pulled her behind the locker bank said, "I'm Luna, what's your name?"

"…Kogane. Was that you who –"

"The cross? No, that was probably Gosunkugi, that's more his style. I do have to admit to being impressed though; I hadn't realized that he was getting that accurate with those… Anyway, come on, we'd better get to our classes."

The pair had walked a few yards before something occurred to Kogane. "Luna? Why aren't you wearing the school uniform?"

"The uniforms are open enough that every pervert around gets a free show, but restrictive enough that they're still hard to fight in. It's a lose-lose situation. To the point that a couple of my friends have some interesting suspicions."

Kogane picked the less awkward of the two conversational threads. "How often _do_ you wind up fighting?"

"Honestly? Often. Too often. But that's largely because we never fight alone."

* * *

 **A/N: Apologies for the delay, and the shortness of the chapter. It would have been a longer chapter, but the next scene needs some work still, and I'm late enough as is.**

 **Before anyone asks, yes, Kogane is still alive in this story. There are two reasons for that, the darker one being that this time they met her** _ **before**_ **she committed suicide. The other reason is tied to Usagi's family disappearing, and won't be revealed until after the timeline resets.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Kogane's Plight

**Chapter 9**

 **Kogane's Plight**

Kogane put down her bento and stood up. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but you're all just too nice, and I can't do this. I don't know what deal my uncle made, but I'm calling it off. Whatever promises or oaths you're under, I release you."

Nabiki eventually broke the ensuing silence, "Ranma, you seem to be the center of all things confusing, care to explain?"

Ranma thought for a minute before smacking his fist into his palm, "Oh, okay, I can see how it came across that way. Kogane, there's no oath to begin with. I didn't promise your uncle anything."

"So then… how come he told me you said to wear street clothes to school today?"

Ranma shrugged. "It seemed like a good solution. Your uncle mentioned you had trouble making friends, I figured this would help you stand out a bit. He told me you had confidence issues, I thought it might help if you were dressed so that you could respect yourself. He said you're reserved this helps you show your personality off a bit more. And he talked about bully troubles, so it can't hurt if you look like you're ready to stand up for yourself."

"When did _he_ get so wise?" Akane whispered to Usagi.

"He was just looking at it as another fight." She whispered back.

"So then… you're not just returning a favor to my uncle?"

"No. You can't buy friendship Kogane, just ask Kuno." The kendo champion nodded sagely before doing a double take. "Even if you could, I wouldn't sell it. The only strength that matters is the real one that comes from within. It's the first rule of martial arts, and I think it applies to friendship too."

Kogane started to tear up ever so slightly. Then her head twitched and she spun to catch the volleyball speeding towards her.

She looked up to see a group of nine girls. "Kogane," One of them said, "My brother is very disappointed that you didn't sit with him at lunch today. I'm sure you can make it up to him tonight though." Her tone left little doubt towards exactly _how_ she expected Kogane to do this.

Ranma and Usagi rolled away from where they sat as the ambient temperature in the space between them rose to the point that the grass began to yellow and die. "And just what," Akane stood up. "Gives you the right," She borrowed a move from Ranma, jumping up and kicking off the tree she had been sitting against to propel the front flip that landed her between Kogane and the other girls. "To even _insinuate_ something like that!?"

The girl laughed, "Why, she owes it. She lost the match; all I'm doing is collecting on the debt. I can tell Kogane to do anything I want. I _own_ her."

Hiroshi and Daisuke were holding Gosunkugi down. "You can't hit a girl Gos." Hiroshi hissed.

"Nobody at this school would be able to blame me after what happened to Akane." Gosunkugi shot back, "Now let me go."

"Doesn't matter, we're supposed to be the good guys," Daisuke summed up.

"Even honor bonds have their limits, and you are _way_ past them! If you want to force Kogane into something like that, you're going to have to leave every last one of us unconscious on a cold floor somewhere!" Akane spat.

The girl flinched. "What? You mean, like, fight? I would never get involved in something so dirty. I only participate in martial arts volleyball."

"Done."

"What?"

"Done. One Martial Arts Volleyball match, consider yourself challenged. When and where?"

"Oh, I see, you win and Kogane goes free, is that right?"

"No. Kogane goes free now. I'm taking you on for the sole purpose of bringing an obnoxiously arrogant witch down a peg or two."

"So then why would I agree to a match with you?"

"Because," Nabiki cut in, "You've got a reputation to keep up, oh Queen of the Sand."

"…Regulations specify a rotating team of nine players. I only see eight girls."

"Really?" A damp redhead stepped out from behind a tree. "Count again."

Ranma, Usagi, Luna, Yuka, Sayuri, Naru, and Nabiki took up protective flanking positions on Akane and Kogane.

"Fine. Friday after school." As the volleyball team was walking away, the one girl tossed over her shoulder, "Oh, and Kogane? When this is all over and you realize that your little friends here can't protect you, my brother will be waiting."

Killing glares followed the girls out of sight around the corner of the school building. After the team was gone, the group relaxed slightly and focused on the next issue. Luna realized that as the group's only real adult, she would have to be the one to ask. "Kogane," She said softly, "I know it's a personal question and you might not want to answer, but we need to know so we can help you. With what she was talking about, I have to ask, have you ever been… violated?"

Kogane cast her eyes down. "No, I'm still intact. That was the first time she suggested… that."

"Alright," Usagi responded, "So what all have they forced you to do?"

"Chores mostly. Take their shift on cleaning duty, pay for their lunch, do their homework. A couple of dates, which included some kissing, but… _nothing_ like what she just suggested. They've been getting a little more demanding lately, but…" She shook her head. "This came out of nowhere."

"So… Dramatic change in personal antagonists, sudden raising of stakes, obvious unknown complications, is anyone else seeing a familiar pattern here?"

"Oh for crying out loud Nabiki," Ranma returned, "It hasn't even been a full day yet, there's no way the curse is kicking in already."

"Curse?" Kogane asked.

Usagi sighed, "When Ranma and I were in China we had a curse put on us. 'May you live in interesting times.' It seems like it rubs off on all of our friends too."

"On the subject of interesting things," Sayuri inquired, "Does anyone know how to play Martial Arts Volleyball?"

The girls stood there blinking for a moment.

"Akane," Yuka groaned, "What did you get us into?" The girl in question shrugged.

Nabiki started rubbing her temples. "You know, you and Ranma really are perfect for each other. Nobody else gets us into stuff like this."

* * *

As Hiroshi and Daisuke were leaving school that day, they stopped at the gates when they noticed a boy around their age looking around as if he was lost. The torn yellow shirt, tattered black pants, worn bandana and oversized backpack painted the perfect picture of a guy who was constantly on the road.

"Hey, you look a little lost. Ya need help getting somewhere?" Hiroshi asked.

The lost boy turned to look at him. "Can you tell me how to get to Furinkan High School?"

Daisuke pointed at a sign. "You're already here."

"Really? I found it? Yes! Furinkan High at last! Now, can you tell me where Ranma Saotome is?"

Hiroshi blinked, "Oh, you a friend of his? He should still be over that way somewhere."

The boy nodded. "Thank you." He turned and drew his umbrella, then began running in the wrong direction. "Ranma Saotome! Prepare to die!"

The two high schoolers exchanged glances. "Should we tell him?" Hiroshi asked.

"I vote we stay out of this one." Daisuke offered.

The two boys traded nods and kept walking.

* * *

"I can teach you Martial Arts Volleyball."

Kasumi, Akane, and Ranma were again seated around the kitchen table eating ice cream. Kasumi continued, "I looked into it when _I_ was attending Furinkan. I decided it wasn't for me, but I've still got the rule book and I can show you a bit of how to play."

"That would be great Kasumi, thank you." Akane pause as her spoon entered her mouth. "So, Ranma, do you want to tell us what's actually eating at you?"

Kasumi deliberately did **_not_** say, "Very good Akane, I'm glad you're picking up on things like that in your fiancé." She also refused yet again to hear little wedding bells in the back of her mind. Those two had enough pressure on them to get married; she should just focus on keeping them relatively sane and healthy. Besides, they were to perfect a couple to be broken up anyway.

Ranma sighed. "Me and Jusenkyo. Usa and Sailor Moon. (Since Kasumi had been listening to their conversations, she already knew everything about that anyway) Nabiki and MITHRIL. Mew Ichigo the other day. And now today, Kogane, someone we probably would have run into eventually anyway, has everything escalate to ridiculous overnight!

"Once is inevitable. Twice is coincidence. Three times is luck. Four times is a pattern. This is somewhere past that. Four high powered teams of fighters finding each other in a _week?_ That's manipulation.

"Someone's trying to build a team, and it's working. Kogane's only on example. They've got us dancing like puppets, and I don't like someone pulling my strings. One by one, monsters, bullies, and curses keep drawing people into our little crew, and if you do a head count, it's not so little anymore."

Akane cocked her head. "Even if someone's putting together a group of fighters like us. Let's say an entire army with morals. What's the problem with that?"

Ranma gave her a sad smile. "Because there's only one reason you assemble a team of heroes."

* * *

It was a nice afternoon.

Ranma and Co. were in Kuno's backyard using his volleyball pit to practice. Suddenly bright flashing streaks of light tore across the sky, the strobe effect making it impossible to see.

There was a brief pause.

Ranma raised her hand. "I hereby move that we let it play out and find its way to us on its own instead of going looking for it. All in favor?"

There was a chorus of ayes.

Akane nodded. "Motion carried, four serving three."

Play resumed.

It had been a nice afternoon.

* * *

Ranma sipped his tea.

Hiroshi and Daisuke had finally decided to mention the boy they saw, and after a few minutes of thought Ranma had remembered his old friend Ryoga.

Ranma had also remembered their old bread feud, and had decided that with things as volatile as they were, he had better make peace fast. So he had been walking around with a bag of bread all day. It hadn't been enough.

Ryoga had been pissed about something. He refused to talk about it, but this grudge apparently went past bread.

Ranma and Akane had been caught separated from the others, so Ranma had fought an honor duel with Ryoga. Akane had tried to intervene and wound up losing her hair. She had been lucky that it was her hair and not her head, but if that belt had been just a little lower…

It had been close. Too close.

Ranma went to drink some more tea only to find he had drained both cup and pot.

At that moment, the door to the kitchen opened and Akane came out. Ranma stood up. "Akane, this afternoon proves that you're not where you need to be to handle what's coming, and teaching you little tricks and gags isn't going to cut it. We need to get serious and really improve your skills, so go put on some clothes you're comfortable training in and meet me in the dojo." The boy turned and walked into the yard, sliding the door closed behind him.

Akane stood there blinking for a moment.

The door slid open again. "By the way, why'd ya cut your hair even more?"

Akane rolled her eyes. "Because Ranma, unlike Usagi most of us can't pull off the I-cut-my-hair-with-a-knife look."

The boy shrugged and left again. The girl didn't even notice the small smile on her lips as she turned to go upstairs and change.

* * *

 **A/N: What exactly does it say about me that I find it humorous that I have to reassure my computer that "sane" was in fact the word I meant to use at the beginning of the kitchen scene?**

 **Anyway, next chapter will be the volleyball match. There might be a delay on it though; it needs a little more work than the rest of these chapters have.**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **~NPP-VI**


	10. Chapter 10 - In the Cards

**A/N: I apologize on two fronts, first, to anyone out there who's actually been waiting a year for this story to update; I'm sorry it took so long. Second, to anyone who was expecting the Martial Arts Volleyball Fight; I'm sorry; I tried to write it, I really did.**

 **Chapter 10**

 **In the Cards**

The sand was littered with craters and the dust had finally settled. The net had had three separate holes punched in it and one of its supporting poles was bent in two places. Most of the audience had fled the closer rows of seating after the official team's Vice Captain had been thrown through one of the bleacher benches by her teammates. This had minimized the injuries when an entire set of bleachers was later overturned.

On this broken battlefield, high above the carnage, the scorekeeper slid the final card into place.

Furinkan High Martial Arts Volleyball Team: 35

Nerima Wrecking Crew: 37

The Captain of the losing team sat amid the ashes of her reputation and empire, shattered by the shock of defeat to the point she could not even mourn herself. Her cohorts looked on worriedly, waiting for a signal, unsure what to do now.

The male half of the Wrecking Crew had come out onto the field to celebrate the victory with their female counterparts. Much congratulation and good natured ribbing ensued, including a half serious declaration from Kuno that the victory was attained because they had trained on _his_ superior volleyball pit. (To be fair, nothing quite trains awareness, reflex, and agility like training while having to watch out for alligator attacks.)

And within this scene, there was one more individual. A larger boy, not completely unattractive in appearance (I won't comment on personality), who seemed completely oblivious of the destruction around him; the Captain of the Competitive Weight Lifting Team, the brother of the Captain of the Martial Arts Volleyball Team. "Huh, well, that was fun. Anyway, let's go Kogane, my favorite TV show'll be on soon and I want a massage from you while I watch it."

He would forever live on in history as the man who said something so unbelievably stupid that even the Wrecking Crew failed to whip out a snappy comeback. After a good few seconds of stunned silence it was Nabiki who finally asked, "Are you even paying attention?"

His confusion was as genuine as theirs. "What do you mean?"

Hiroshi sighed. "Kuno, idiots listen to you, you try."

The kendoist nodded and turned to their musclebound visitor. "Forsooth, the war is finished and the prize already claimed. Thou shalt not besmirch the Lady Kogane any more with thy presence if thou be a man of honor. Leave of thy intentions, thou hast no claims; and with no claim, no stake in the lady's fate. Begone lest fool thou make thyself more. The full price hath been paid."

The weightlifter blinked. "What?"

Hiroshi facepalmed. "Great, an idiot who doesn't speak idiot. Alright, let's try it this way Jack. Back off Kogane before you get hurt."

"You trying to tell me what to do with my girl?"

"We're telling you she's not your girl!" Akane finally exploded.

"Of course she's my girl, she belongs to me."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Ranma stepped through the group. "Look, if I can beat you in a fight will you drop this?"

"I ain't fightin' no girl. They don't fight fair."

Ranma took a breath to respond, paused, looked down at her chest and the swimsuit she had been wrangled into, and then back up at him. "Fair enough, how about fighting someone else?"

"Sure, but I'd have to meet 'em first. I ain't stupid. I'm not gonna fight some ninja or dojo master. It's gotta be one of you."

"Me." All eyes turned to Gosunkugi. "Your opponent will be me. If you can't beat me, then you can't even begin to dream about fighting any of the others."

His opponent smiled and before anyone else could respond, stuck out his hand. "I accept. One week from today."

Gosunkugi nodded and turned, ignoring the offered handshake as he did. "Prepare for a crushing defeat." And with that, he walked away.

* * *

"What'veIdonewhat'veIdonewhat'veIdonewhat'veIdonewhat'veIdonewhat'veIdonewhat'veI–"

Ranma slapped Gosunkugi across the face. "Nothing dumber'n what you've done before, so snap out of it. Now then, what do we know about this guy."

"Not much." Nabiki was flipping through a set of notebooks. "He's the Captain of the Competitive Weightlifting Team and has most of the students terrified of him. I've got rumors of fights, but no actual accounts."

"Good." Ranma nodded. "This'll be easy."

Yuka raised her hand. "Um, excuse me, _how_ exactly?"

Ranma smiled. "Weightlifters like him are basically useless in a real fight. No pain tolerance, no technique, no agility, no combat sense, no reflexes. On top of that, all his muscles are the showy kind. You use entirely different muscle sets for fighting. If one of us gives him a little bit of tutoring and a technique or two, Gos has this in the bag."

* * *

The group people were starting to call the Nerima Wrecking Crew was gathered at the local park.

"Alright," Ranma said as Hiroshi and Daisuke arrived to complete the set, "Nabiki's statistical projection puts the 'Night Bird' here tonight, as you all know. Since this is as close as it's likely to come to our nexus of chaos, something's probably gonna go down. We've got a plan, but it won't work if everyone knows what the other are doing, so:

"Yuka, Sayuri, Naru, Kogane, you're with Akane.

"Kuno, Gosunkugi, Luna, you're with Usagi.

"Hiroshi, Daisuke, I'll give you your assignments after everyone else is gone.

"And Nabiki already knows what she's doing.

"Alright people, the only thing we know about what's coming is that it flies, so don't try anything you can't pull out of." The group nodded. "Break!"

In a surprisingly short amount of time, the park was apparently devoid of high school age fighters.

* * *

Sakura was on her knees, panting. "Kero," she asked, "Why didn't the card respond before?"

Her winged companion looked around warily. "I don't know Sakura. Something was interfering with the magic, but I don't know why."

"Probably so that you'd meet us." The pair turned to see a young man walk out from behind a tree. "Hello, I'm Ranma Saotome. What're your names?"

"Sakura Avalon."

"Keroberos, Guardian of the Clow Cards."

"So, that's a Clow Card is it? I had heard that there was a mysterious force called magic in this world, but this is the first evidence I've seen of it." All three turned to see a boy with pointed ears astride a mutated wolf thing. "I'll ask you nicely to hand it over, along with any other cards you've got."

Kero floated up to his eye level. "Are you the guy who's been interfering with the magic of the Clow Cards?"

"No, I'm just capitalizing."

The tiny animal's expression switched from enraged to triumphant. "Well then guess what buddy, Cardcaptor Sakura's gonna stop you in your tracks. If you wanna get the Clow Cards, you're gonna hafta go through her!"

"Looks like that shouldn't be too difficult."

Sakura shook as she tried to stand up before collapsing back to her knees. "Kero, I… I can't–" She was cut off by a strong hand on her shoulder.

Ranma gave her a brief smile. "It's alright, I got this." He turned to the boy on the wolf. "I'm afraid that if you're planning on taking anything tonight, my team and I are going to have to stand in your way."

The other boy laughed. "What team? The scared adolescent male hiding in the bushes behind you? I scoped out this park, and besides a group of adolescent females in a flimsy cloth structure, two adolescent males attempting to catch a glimpse of them in their undergarments, and an adolescent female sleeping under a bridge, we're the only ones here."

"So then it's mano y mano?"

"Not quite." Wolf boy whistled and two more mutant wolf things stepped out of the shadows.

Ranma smirked. "So I guess it really will come down to who's got the better team." He made a finger gun and pretended to shoot the other boy.

Wolf boy flinched. Then he reached up, pulled something from his neck, and held the tranquilizer dart up in the moonlight. On a distant roof, Hiroshi's eye left his scope in shock.

Ranma sighed, "Well, if the elephant tranquilizer didn't do it, I guess we're back to the old fashioned way." He pointed his imaginary gun straight up and fired it again.

Daisuke followed suit with a real flare gun.

Gosunkugi and Kuno kicked over their hunting blind and took off like twin rockets.

The girls started piling out of their tent.

Spectre saw the flare and slung her shotgun onto her back. With a rev of her bike's engine, she was off.

There was a light show under a bridge, and then Sailor Moon and Luna were on their way to the fight.

Ranma couldn't help but grin at the expression on the wolf boy's face as he watched the flare rise into the sky. Deciding to take the initiative, he charged forward and used the first wolf's head as a springboard to launch a flying kick straight into the enemy's chest.

* * *

Mew Ichigo sighed. She was standing on top of a tree looking down at a group of teenagers taking down a trio of kimera. It was Nerima, she should have guessed.

She jumped from the tree and unleashed a pair of energy bursts, purging the parasites from two of the kimera and reverting them to wolves. Kuno and Spectre grappling the two wolves into submission didn't even faze her as she landed and targeted the pack leader.

Her Ribbon Strawberry Check lanced through the night and blasted the alien from the third wolf.

"Alright Ranma," She stood up and looked around. "How'd you… Ranma?"

The pigtailed martial artist was nowhere to be seen.

Kogane spoke up, "Akane's gone too."

"Anybody seen that freaky elf guy since the fight started?" Daisuke asked.

As if on cue, there was a cackle above them, "You hijack my teleportation only to bring us to more hostages? Tell me, how stupid are you?"

Mew Ichigo looked up with the others to see Kish holding Akane with a knife to her throat.

Ranma stood at the top of the tree next to the one Kish was on. "Stupid enough to try something desperate." He looked down. "Heh, so I was right. Luna, Mew Ichigo, I need as much sheer cat up here as possible."

Luna nodded and dropped her transformation with a frontflip. Mew Ichigo looked around confusedly for a moment before deciding to go for it and shifting fully to her feline form.

An indignant-at-being-unmentioned Kero followed the other two cats up Ranma's tree.

Sakura looked up from where she was still kneeling. "What's Ranma doing?"

"A desperate all-or-nothing gamble that's going to put him through a nightmare in the hopes he can win this fight." Sakura looked up to see a girl in a white sailor fuku. "Watch carefully," Sailor Moon told her, "This level of sacrifice and loyalty is what sets Ranma Saotome apart from other fighters."

Sakura's hand unconsciously tightened on her wand as her gaze travelled to a meowing Ranma with three cats leaping away from him.

Faster than her eyes could follow, Ranma had knocked Kish away from Akane and the boys were ascending as the alien and the cat-like martial artist traded blows in midair.

Sailor Moon started kick climbing the trees until she was cut off in a cloud of feathers. Sakura had activated the fly card and was racing to catch the falling Akane faster than the Senshi could.

A bloodied and battered Kish kicked off Ranma and vanished mid-backflip. His enemy gone, Ranma fainted.

As Akane landed behind Sakura, the younger girl changed directions. "Hang on and get ready to catch your boyfriend!"

As they passed Ranma, Akane snagged his collar and dragged the unconscious boy onto the winged staff.

"Alright, hold on tight, because I'm not sure how long… I… can… last…" A panting, sweating, and shaking Sakura tossed over her shoulder. When she fainted, they were still on a collision course with the duck pond.

The group followed the splash to find Akane and a female Ranma stumbling out of the water with Sakura's unconscious form between them.

* * *

Sakura's eyes opened slowly. She could hear something loud happening above her. As she sat up and looked around, she realized it must have been on an upper floor.

Her head turned as she heard a door open. A nice looking lady with long brown hair walked in. "Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "Ouch." She summarized.

The woman laughed, "That sounds about right. How much of last night do you remember?"

Sakura blinked. "I remember… Ranma! What happened to Ranma and that girl? Are they alright? I don't remember landing! Where–" She was silenced by a finger on her lips.

"Tell you what," The woman said, "I'll let you hear it from them." She stood up, motioning for the girl to stay where she was. "I'm Kasumi by the way."

* * *

Ranma and Akane paused in front of the door. "So," the boy asked, "Ready for another round of explanations?"

"No."

Ranma laughed and opened the door anyway.

* * *

"Ordinarily I'd call you two crazy, but I've been following a stuffed animal chasing a giant magical bird for a week, so I really can't criticize."

* * *

Ranma, Akane, Sailor Moon, and Mew Ichigo watched Sakura walk away.

"So," Mew Ichigo broke the silence, "Why do you just keep letting us walk away like this?"

Akane laughed, "Because you all just keep coming back."

Nabiki nodded as she walked up. "She's right, you'll stick around eventually for the rest of the chaos, but until then we can't expect you to deal with all of our issues on top of your own."

The cat girl nodded and turned to leave, pausing mid-step. With a steadying breath, she turned on her heel and leapt over the wall of the Tendo compound.

When Nabiki got through the small side gate they had been near, she found Ranma, Akane, and Sailor Moon sitting with an eleven year old girl who was at best vaguely familiar. The girl looked up as she heard the gate close behind Nabiki.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Ichigo Momomiya."

* * *

An old blind woman in a cave looked up as another candle changed colors. "Oh. They awaken so quickly now that they've begun. And they're gathering so fast."

The tall man in the black cloak behind her scowled. "They won't last long. Not one of them is a team player. All they need is one person to turn them against each other."

"Don't underestimate them." The boy with the long golden staff cut in. "They might not be ready to save the world yet, but they _are_ growing. Learning how to use each other's strengths. The first candle only lit a month ago and now look at them." He gestured to the seven candles that were the obvious focal point of the room. Three were holding a bright blue flame, one was burning a soft white, and three were still unlit.

"He's right." A woman in a red evening dress walked out of the shadows. "They are quickly becoming threats."

" _ **A**_ threat," The teenage boy in the leather jacket ducking into the cave pointed out. "They aren't seven teams anymore. For some reason Fate's design got frustrated and now the Seven Dragons are rising as one army. It does raise the question though, if they're coming together so quickly, what will the reflection in their enemies be?"

* * *

 **A/N: Apologies again for the delay on this chapter. Because of life, I probably won't be able to keep a regular update schedule the way I'd like to. However, this story isn't going to be dying again anytime soon.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading,**

 **~ NPP-VI**


	11. Chapter 11 - P-Chan

**Chapter 11**

 **P-Chan**

Luna sighed softly. She hated rainy nights. Sure, they weren't as bad now as they were under that bridge, but still, the fact that she had to sleep in her human form was annoying to say the least. Still, it was better than the alternative. Yet again she had to resist the urge to kill Genma in his sleep for putting Ranma through that training.

She and Usagi were sleeping in the main room of the Tendo home tonight, neither one really wanting to use one of the rooms on the third floor lest it be declared "theirs" and therefore unavailable for the use of someone who might actually need it.

The aforementioned blonde was having just as much trouble getting to sleep. Apparently the Captain of the Guard's loyalty was strong enough that even with her powers and memories struggling to return – no, even before they had _begun_ to return – she found it difficult to rest cut off from her princess's symbol and kingdom. As such, she was watching the late night news, trying to see if anything was going on worth looking into.

Her ruminations were interrupted when the news report began talking about someone named "Sailor V." After a few minutes, Usagi hissed in a way that made the cat very proud. "Luna, she totally stole our shtick."

After a moment's consideration, Luna shook her head. "No, I don't think she did. I'm fairly certain she's one of ours. Think about it, what are the odds of the entirety of The Princess's Personal Guards winding up here in Japan? We're probably scattered all over the globe. Although…

"I don't actually remember a 'Sailor V.' Also… that cat they're talking about; it sounds like my counterpart, Artemis… Usa, there's a chance that Sailor V is actually the princess in disguise."

"…If that's the case, then shouldn't we go get her?"

"From the sounds of the report, she's needed where she is. At the moment we've only got the two of you active, so for now you'll each have to take a hemisphere. At some point though…"

"But the report said she hasn't been seen for a few months. What if…?"

"If she is who we think she is, she can't be dead or our enemies wouldn't still be playing in the shadows. If she's not, then she's either dead, in which case we can't help her, captured, in which case we'll rescue her as soon as we hear about it, or in hiding, in which case we can't risk leading our enemy to her."

"I guess… I just… If she's my sister-in-arms, I want to know she's doing alright."

"I'm sure she's just fine Usa. The enemy hasn't won yet, so what could possibly be going wrong?"

* * *

 _A few hours ago…_

In a small village in the western part of England, Sailor V sunk to her knees as she watched the building before her burn. How could she have failed so utterly?

Her last battle with her actual enemy had been months ago. After that Artemis had insisted that she needed to train and improve her skills. That had actually been how she met the young couple who had owned the home that was now a bonfire.

They and their friends had helped her immensely, and she had done her best to help them in return. Her best had apparently not been good enough. Two more of their friends had shown up since she had, and both had torn off into the night with purpose, one seeking vengeance of some kind, the other taking hope to safety.

And her? She just sat there, watching her friends' home burn. She was broken inside, she knew she should be doing something, but… she just couldn't bring herself to move from what had become a funeral pyre.

"So what are you going to do now?"

Artemis had apparently finally caught up with her. She had been waiting in the next town over, standing vigil and watching just in case they needed her. When the alarms were tripped, she had taken off so fast she'd left her mentor behind.

"I… I don't know."

"This is one of those deciding moments. You did everything you could, but couldn't save them. Are you going to let that keep you from saving whoever the next one is?"

"…No. They would've saved the next one, but now they can't. So I'll do it in their place."

"In memoriam. I'm sure they would have appreciated the sentiment. Now let's go Minako, it's almost dawn, people will be waking up soon."

* * *

The resident panda threw Ranma and Ryoga out into the rain with a sign that read "QUIET!"

* * *

"It _is_ a burglar!"

"Nah, it's just Ryoga again. Don't worry, Ranma's got this."

"Usagi! I'm a martial artist too, I can help!"

Usagi shrugged. "I guess if you want too. I'm gonna go sleep in the hall upstairs, something tells me it's about to get noisy down here."

"Here Akane, use this." Kasumi handed her sister a dumbbell.

* * *

"Ranma, the piglet's soaked through. Give him a bath while you're in there, will you?"

* * *

Ryoga laughed. "You won't tell her a thing Ranma. You made an oath on your honor as a martial artist, remember?"

Ranma shook his head. "One, letting you sneak into a girl's bed like that is way over the line to begin with. Two, sacrificing her honor for mine would only dishonor us both. Three, I have a prior bond to keep nothing secret from Akane."

Ryoga just laughed again. "That would require you to be noble Ranma. You're not that heroic." He turned on the faucet and sprayed them both with cold water."

* * *

Ranma grit her teeth and delivered a litany of silent curses. Ryoga had outmaneuvered her. There were too many people in the living room, she couldn't tell Akane who the pig in her arms really was.

She really only had one option.

Ranma locked eyes with Akane. "Akane," She spoke slowly and quietly, hoping the other girl would understand how serious she was, "Please, just trust me. There _is_ a reason, I just can't tell you _right now_. Don't take the pig to bed with you."

Akane looked into Ranma's eyes a moment longer before slowly nodding as she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She then turned on her heel and walked up the stairs, intent on getting an explanation later.

* * *

Akane's spoon missed her ice cream tub completely, bouncing off the edge of the table and clattering to the floor as she dropped it in shock.

Kasumi blinked in mild confusion, whatever secret Ranma had just whispered in Akane's ear, it was apparently big. She watched her younger sister close her eyes and fists before taking a calming breath.

"One moment." Akane rose from her seat, walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs, entered her room and opened her closet. She then reached down and picked up the sleeping pig inside by his handkerchief. While she was on her way back down, the pig woke up and started struggling, sensing something very wrong.

As she tried to drop the pig into the pot of water Ranma had started heating on the stove before their conversation began, his struggles actually grew to the point that the pot was sent flying over to splash Ranma, triggering her change into a him.

Kasumi frowned ever so slightly as she began to catch on. While Akane was trying to figure out what to do next, the eldest Tendo sister went to the other side of the kitchen and picked up the kettle she kept constantly warm for Ranma. She carried it over so that her sister could use it…

* * *

Akane stood staring at the Ryoga-shaped hole in the wall. Ranma hesitantly walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know, I don't think he meant to hurt you."

The girl turned on him. "What!? Now you're defending that pervert!?"

Ranma shook his head. "What he tried to do was absolutely wrong. I'm pretty pissed about it too, probably as pissed as I'd be if he tried to do it to Usa. But Ryoga's convinced that I'm evil. I think he _was_ actually trying to help protect you from me."

"So you're saying I _shouldn't_ have hit him!?"

"No! Now will you stop looking for a reason to get mad at me!? All I'm saying is that he screwed up big time here, but you shouldn't hate him. Not just yet at least."

Akane deflated, more at the realization that Ranma was right about her looking for a way to be mad at him than anything else he'd said. And as her guard slipped, so did several other emotions. She turned and gazed out into the rain again. "…Ranma …why is every boy I know desperate to get in bed with me? …Is …is 'conquering' me the only thing that will ever matter to anyone?"

Ranma seized up, completely unsure of what to do as he watched Akane break down in tears. He was so preoccupied with trying to figure things out that he never even noticed the gentle pressure on the small of his back push him forward. What he _did_ notice was that he lost his balance and instinctively grabbed Akane to prevent his falling.

Akane froze in shock as she felt Ranma wrap his arms around her from behind.

Ranma thought as fast as he could, feeling Akane stiffen under his touch. While she was crying over her boy troubles was exactly the _**wrong**_ time to come across as getting grabby. Between 'It's not my fault,' 'I'm not making a move on you,' 'I'm sorry,' and 'I don't know why they only want to get in bed with you,' what Ranma actually managed to stammer out was:

"I don't want to conquer you."

Responding almost unconsciously to the warm embrace and comforting words, Akane turned in her fiancé's arms and just cried into his shoulder.

In the hallway behind Ranma, Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief as she put her weight on the stick of the broom she had grabbed from the closet. "Disaster averted."

* * *

The next morning, Akane came to a startling realization about what Ranma had said. He was right; he _wasn't_ trying to conquer her. Their parents had forced them into an engagement, but Ranma was fighting it just as hard as she was. He could have done just about anything he wanted to by this point, but he hadn't taken advantage of her in any way.

In fact, he frequently went out of his way to insult her, to drive her away from him. She still remembered the conversation she'd overheard his first night here. He was determined to let her choose, but he was making sure she was familiar with his worst side before she did. More than that, he was actively avoiding everything that the perverts at school had ever tried.

He was running in the exact opposite direction of romance as fast as he could. He wasn't just the only boy she knew who wasn't trying to get her in bed, he was the only boy she knew who was actively trying to stay _out_ of her bed. All of his insults, all his teasing, it was all code, signals that he refused to be the kind of boy that she hated. She smiled to herself as she realized that the only way to show him that she truly understood was to respond in kind.

She never even realized the infinitely important conclusion she had come to, though it would shape so many of her future decisions. Deep in her mind though, Ranma Saotome stepped into a position that nobody else ever completely had before, though many had come close.

Ranma Saotome was safe.

BREAK

Gosunkugi and Kogane were sitting on a park bench, a gentle breeze ruffling their hair.

Gosunkugi shook his head. "Kogane, I can't run from this fight."

Kogane nodded. "Then I can't stay away."

"Kogane, trust me, I've got this."

"I do trust you Hikaru, that's why I have to be there. Now will you stop worrying? You and the rest of the crew will be there, so I won't be in any danger."

Various members of said crew nodded in their equally varied hiding places.


	12. Chapter 12 - Gosunkugi Steps Up

**Chapter 12**

 **Gosunkugi Steps Up**

The crowd was roaring as the two opponents entered the ring.

Hikaru Gosunkugi locked eyes with his foe, Kasai Tanken. "So," Tanken asked, "Ready to hand her over yet, or have you still not realized she's not worth it?"

Gosunkugi exhaled. Slowly. "I will end you."

Tanken began the fight with a right hook.

Gosunkugi leaned backwards to dodge and brought his shakujo around into the crook of the larger boy's arm. The staff hit the inside of his elbow and Gosunkugi used the recoil to spin the staff and bring it down on the side of the same joint. He then completed the maneuver by slamming the bottom end of the shakujo into the boy's nose, rebounding the top end into the back of his head.

Gosunkugi took a step back and brought his staff into the ready position. "You'll have to try harder than that."

The battle commenced.

* * *

Gosunkugi had been winning the fight at first. Then he had been losing. Then his opponent had whispered something in his ear that had made him look over at Kogane for a moment before his gaze slid over the rest of the wrecking crew. Steel slid behind his eyes and all who knew him noticed something change.

He disengaged and skipped backwards a step as he shifted his grip on the staff. Both his hands went down to one end, right up against each other and roughly a handspan from the very end. He spun, twisting his entire body as he did, and sliced the staff horizontally at his own shoulder height. The weapon caught Tanken just below his ribcage, doubling him over and knocking the unbalanced boy off his feet.

Ranma blinked and then swore under his breath. "Gosunkugi, how far did you push yourself?"

Akane turned and looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm gonna take a wild guess Akane and say that Gos went to you for his tutoring?"

"Yeah, he asked me not to mention it to anyone else because he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. How did… you…" She swore.

The others, sitting with them in the stands, turned their attention to the young couple. "What's going on?" was the common theme of their questions.

"What's going on is that we all forgot that Gos is one of us 'cause he's got a fighter's spirit, not because he can actually fight. So he needs us, just like we need him. Stand up everyone, because Tanken ain't just taking on Gosunkugi, he's fighting the entire crew."

At that, the Nerima Wrecking Crew stood in the stands. Well, most of them anyway. Gosunkugi was in the ring, and…

"Daisuke," Hiroshi nudged his friend, "You heard him, Gosunkugi needs our support. Why aren't you standing up?"

"Simple, my part's done. That was my baseball swing just now… And I'm pretty sure this next trick's Kuno's."

Tanken was halted and slowly pushed back by a series of stabbing strikes with the blunted bottom of the shakujo. Tatewaki Kuno resisted the urge to cry out "STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!" as he resumed his seat.

Tanken finally managed to dodge to the left, turning as the staff passed him. He brought up a knee to knock the weapon from Gosunkugi's hands, then delivered a vicious chop, snapping it in half. Gosunkugi rushed passed him and grabbed the spinning halves out of the air while Tanken was preparing his gloat. After briefly toying with them to get used to the feel and balance, he began using them as knightsticks to batter his way through Tanken's attempts at defense. He lost one of the pieces in the process, but found himself just past his opponent and to one side, the perfect position for another trick. His arm snaked up and around Tanken's neck, the boy's reflexive turn providing the momentum needed for Gosunkugi to lever him over his hip and slam him into the ground. Nabiki recognized her baton style. Akane recognized the power throw. The Tendo sisters sat down.

Tanken hit the ground hard, but still managed to avoid some of the damage by converting it into a very rough backwards roll. He came up swinging and managed to knock the remaining piece of Gosunkugi's shakujo away. Gosunkugi responded by darting backwards to buy the time he needed to draw a pair of dulled athame from within his robes. Unseen by the audience were the kanji on the handles, 生活 and 死, Life and Death.

Holding the blades backhand Gosunkugi battered away at his opponent's defenses again. After a few seconds of the back and forth and a few solid hits, Hiroshi sat down when Gosunkugi caught an overhead strike on the blades with a crossblock. As Tanken grabbed his wrist and stepped back, Gosunkugi stepped with him, slipping inside his guard as he spun the ceremonial knives in his hands and switched to a forehand style, making the most of the opportunity with a set of (relatively) heavy strikes that finished with a rake from bet to collarbone that tore Tanken's shirt. Luna sat down as the ruined garment fluttered open, revealing the weightlifter's torso littered with red marks incongruous with the force behind the blows that had landed.

The half second of hesitation that caused Gosunkugi was enough for Tanken to rally again and in short order both of Gosunkugi's knifes went flying. The flow of battle then shifted again, Gosunkugi dodging, ducking, and twisting desperately, knowing full well that a single blow connecting at this point would mean the end for him. That had been his entire strategy in this fight, bringing down his opponent with a death by a thousand cuts while avoiding injury for as long as he had to.

Then Tanken left him an opening he'd had drilled into responding to automatically. A particular forward movement left him leaning out too far and Gosunkugi took advantage of it by falling to the ground. His momentum was transferred into his legs as he snapped them up into Tanken's stomach, putting everything he had into keeping his legs straight. The larger boy went flying over the smaller, slamming into the mat and careening into one of the posts in an uncontrolled tumble. Usagi sat down as she recognized the… attempt at her "Sky Kick" she'd tried to teach her friend.

Both combatants slowly regained their feet, circling for a moment until they were standing in opposite corners, Gosunkugi's back to the slightly cracked pillar Tanken had been thrown into. On some unseen signal, both fighters paused for a moment before Tanken charged. Gosunkugi grabbed one of the ropes and jumped, swinging himself up to land on the pillar behind him in a crouch as Tanken's haymaker passed through the space he'd vacated and punched a hole in the mat.

The two fighters, both on the edge of collapsing from exhaustion, paused for a moment, gulping down air. As they did, a pair of conversations began, one in the ring, one in the stands.

"So," Gosunkugi asked, "Have you figured it out yet?"

"Okay Ranma," Usagi questioned, "You're too calm. You should be a lot more worried right now, why aren't you?"

"Figured what out?" Tanken replied.

"Because I'm pretty sure I know how this is going to end," Ranma answered.

"Why you're losing a fight to a wimp like me." Gosunkugi supplied.

"What do you mean?" Akane joined the conversation.

"I ain't losing." Tanken protested.

"Gosunkugi has two tricks left. I don't know what kind of attack Kogane taught him, but I didn't teach him one. I taught him a technique that'll make an opening for him, especially now that he has the high ground. I know basically what's about to happen."

"You're right, you're not losing, you've lost. You didn't realize what my friends mean to me. You still don't get how much a part of me they are. You have no idea what I was before them. They've changed my life. They've changed _me_. There's a part of each one of them inside me, and so when you fight me, you fight everyone I care about."

"So how's he going to get out of this?" Akane wondered aloud, "He can't have that much left in him."

"You could never understand," Gosunkugi continued. "You don't have any friends, how could you understand. I know your family's reputation; you're surrounded by nothing but betrayal, lies, petty grudges, and bitterness. You're more alone than I ever was. That's why you lost this fight, long before it ever even began. You're pathetic."

"That's why he's stalling right now. He's getting everything ready for one last move. Think back Akane, remember our first sparring match. You have the brains and training for tactics. You just have to realize that you already know how this is going to end."

A primal roar ripped from Tanken's throat as he saw red. _This_ kid had the _gall_ to call _him_ pathetic!? His fist came back as he prepared to put it through the crouched boy.

Akane gasped as she saw in her mind's eye what was about to happen.

The post Gosunkugi was on snapped under the blow. The intended target however was already in the air, hands planted on his opponent's shoulder as he vaulted over him, twisting as he did. As Gosunkugi's head passed the other boy's ear, he whispered to him, "She will _always_ be worth it."

He landed with his knees slamming into Tanken's lower back at the same time the ring's ropes slammed the remains of the post into his knees like a slingshot. Gosunkugi's hands came back and with a wordless battlecry flying from his lips he slammed them into his enemy's unprotected back in a double palm strike.

Ranma's flip (Gosunkugi Edition) and the Martial Arts Construction Load Bearer Shattering Technique were blended seamlessly as the hair on the back of the neck of Luna and every ki sensitive in the room stood up. The two members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew still standing in the audience resumed their seats, though Kogane was decidedly on the edge of hers.

Gosunkugi himself was thrown backwards from the force of his blow, and landed in a heap that rolled to a stop a few paces back. Tanken on the other hand had lurched forward, the angle of his legs causing the ropes to slide to his ankles as his knees buckled. He hung there for a moment, suspended in space and time, leaning off the edge of the battlefield. Then gravity reasserted itself and he fell, toppling out of the ring and hitting the cold concrete floor were unconsciousness took him.

Gosunkugi, groaning, struggled back to his feet, scanning for his now out of view opponent. Dimly, he heard the announcers declare him the winner. "I won?" He asked. "Oh. Okay. I need a nap now." And then he fainted.

Kogane was out of her seat and at his side before the ringside EMT was. The rest of the crew wasn't too far behind.

* * *

A small black piglet was wandering around lost when a crowd of people rushed by. In the choking press, he felt someone pick him up by his handkerchief.

His relief at avoiding trampling froze within him as he found himself staring into the eyes of a newly familiar blue haired girl. "Hello P-Chan," Her voice was saccharine, "I was wondering where you went and when you'd show up again."

The pig fainted.

* * *

The Nerima Wrecking Crew was crammed into the school nurse's office, Kogane sitting next to Gosunkugi's bed, one of his hands clasped in both of hers.

Stressful but relatively peaceful moment, right? Come on now, you know better than that. These guys can't have it that easy, remember? You know what's coming.

Gosunkugi faded into consciousness and had enough time to say hello to everyone.

Then the wall exploded.

The dust cleared, revealing a Chinese girl with purple hair. Ranma was still dripping from the water dispenser that had been ruptured in the explosion. Usagi was on the other side of the room. Both of them let loose a colorful batch of expletives they usually held in reserve for referencing a certain panda.

"Ranma," the new girl said, her face shadowed for only a moment before she stepped into the room. "I kill."

* * *

 **A/N: Before anyone asks, no, Gosunkugi did not use _ki_ with that last attack. He tapped into something else, but none of them will realize it for a bit. That's not the only bit of foreshadowing in this chapter either.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading,**

 **~NPP-VI**


	13. Chapter 13 - Searches

**Chapter 13**

 **Searches**

The girl stalked into the room like the predator she'd always been. As the big fish fully left her little pond, the Wrecking Crew shifted, readying for a fight.

A fight which was over before it began when Nabiki shot the girl with a taser. After watching the purple-haired warrior fall, Nabiki turned to what she now considered the source of all things interesting in her life. "So Saotome, what's the story _this_ time?"

Ranma gave a weak laugh, "Well ya see, it all started in China…"

* * *

"Frankly you should have let her eat the panda," Luna said.

A chorus of approval followed.

Usagi sighed, "That's the deal I tried to go for. Unfortunately once Ranma opened his mouth she decided that wasn't enough for the insult he apparently paid her. I still don't think the guide translated that right… anyway, the point is, Shampoo's out for blood."

Nabiki looked thoughtful. "Can we fake his death?"

Ranma slumped. "We already tried that. The first time she spent a week trawling the river looking for my corpse. The second time she climbed to the bottom of a mile deep crevice. We're thinking she might need to bring my body back or something."

"So what do we do?" Luna asked.

Ranma let out another of the heavy sighs he'd been using for the past little while. "I don't know."

Off to one side of the conversation, Akane brought her face close to that of the pig she was holding. "Pay attention P-chan, this is what holding grudges does to people."

* * *

The Nerima Wrecking Crew was chasing a giant rabbit.

Shampoo was still trying to kill Ranma's female form, but she was at least tolerant of the others (including his male half), so she had been invited to the party.

The rabbit had shown up after school, bouncing past them down the street just as everyone was on their way out. Naturally, our heroes pursued the fifteen foot tall bunny.

The chase ended when the hare halted. It was cut off completely on its rear by the pursuers, so it couldn't go back that way. It couldn't go forward either, because that way was blocked by a girl sitting on a winged staff.

"Hello Jump Card,' Sakura said, "Are you going to come quietly or not?"

The scared rabbit had nowhere to run, completely trapped between predators as it was. So it lived up to its name and jumped straight up.

Sakura flew up after it, the wings vanishing from her wand as she swung it around while twisting in midair, a ball of light shooting from the staff's head to a box on her waist shortly before the circle formed. "Jump Card! Return to your power confined! Jump Card!"

Sakura snagged the card out of the air, then folded her arms tight to her chest as the spun around her own vertical axis while falling from the sky. Her eyes closed three stories from impact.

Ranma was moving the instant she started to drop. Rebounding off a couple buildings on the way up, he caught the girl bridal style, kicking off one more building before landing. "Guess it's my turn to catch _you_." Sakura didn't hear him, she was already peacefully sleeping.

* * *

Sakura's eyes drifted open. She recognized this place. She was at the Tendos' again.

"Hey." With a great deal of effort, Sakura turned her head to see Akane. "How are you feeling?"

Sakura gave the only answer she could, a tired and pained groan.

Akane gave a dry chuckle. "That good, huh? How long were you chasing the card for this time?" She offered a glass of water.

Sakura took the glass, followed shortly by a sip. "Five days." She took another drink. She hadn't realized how dry her mouth was.

Akane smiled. "Last time it took you a week. You're getting better."

Kasumi and Luna exchanged glances where they were eavesdropping. "She's been up for 120 hours straight?"

Luna's gaze hardened. "Apparently. She must have been converting her own mana to life energy just to keep going. I can see the first time. Rough starts are to be expected and beginner's ineptitude can answer for a lot. This last one makes five cards that she's got though… I think I need to have a little chat with Keroberos magical cat guardian to magical cat guardian."

Back in the room, Akane and Sakura were going over what each had missed of the fight. Then Sakura asked, "Where's Madison?"

Akane stiffened slightly. "Who?"

"My friend Madison, she was following me with her camera so that I could watch the fight and see what I need to do better."

Akane shook her head. "There wasn't anyone else at the fight. Where'd you last see her?"

"Just a minute or two before I came across all of you fighting the Jump Card."

Akane nodded, smiling again. "Okay, so she at least made it to Nerima. That's good; we don't need to look as far. Don't worry, my friends and I know this town like the backs of our hands, we'll find her." Akane rose and walked to the door, pausing and looking over her shoulder at Sakura. "You stay here and rest, we don't want your friend getting here and thinking we've been mistreating you. If the pattern holds she'd try to kill Ranma and I'd really rather only one person was doing that at a time."

Akane maintained her smile until the door was shut and her composure all the way down both sets of stairs. When she opened the living room door however, her face was a grim mask that instantly drew the attention of Ranma, Usagi, Nabiki, and Shampoo. "Call the rest of the Crew; we've got a nine year old girl lost in Nerima at night."

* * *

A black piglet was set down on the floor of the bathroom, a heavy backpack dropped next to him a moment later.

"Okay Ryoga," Akane said, "This is an emergency. There's a nine year old girl lost in a very dangerous town to be in at night. So, we're sending an expert on getting lost. Find her, get her out of Nerima, and keep her safe until you (apparently) inevitably wander back here again looking to fight Ranma."

A teakettle was placed next to the pig.

* * *

Madison Taylor was wandering through unfamiliar and dark streets. She had no idea where she was going and she hadn't seen Sakura in hours. By the time she'd realized she was lost it was past sunset and she was so turned around she wouldn't have even been able to find the train station. She'd thought about using her camera's replay function to retrace her steps, but the battery had died.

She turned another corner and made it two steps before a shadowy figure dropped in front of her. Before she'd even had time to scream, something had been forced into her face and unconsciousness was claiming her.

* * *

"Is there a fight going on downstairs?" Sakura struggled to sit up.

Kasumi smiled as she gently pushed the girl back down. "Oh no, don't worry. Ranma and Akane are just trying to get things organized, so naturally chaos ensued."

* * *

Ranma, Akane, Usagi, Nabiki, Luna, Yuka, Sayuri, Naru, Hiroshi, Daisuke, Kogane, Gosunkugi, Kuno, Shampoo, and Ryoga scattered into the night.

* * *

Madison's eyes fluttered open. After a moment of haziness, the memories of _how_ exactly she'd fallen asleep filtered through and she sat bolt upright.

"Good," She heard a voice to her right, "You're awake." She turned to see an older girl crouched on the edge of the roof next to her, looking down on the street. "Do you know where you are?"

Madison thought about it for a moment, the fog clearing rapidly from her mind. "I was in Nerima, although I cannot say where you have moved me to."

The other girl laughed. "Excellent, you possess the rare quality of being able to think. Don't worry, you're still in Nerima."

"And why was it necessary that you incapacitate me?"

The older girl bit her lip. "Nerima's a strange place. It is both very dangerous and very safe, and for the same reason. This place… the greatest warriors of every generation have been connected to Nerima since the Sengoku Period. Truly, any of us would have granted aid to one in your place, else they would need forever forsake the title of martial artist. Were you a bit older, or moved with a warrior's grace, mayhap you might be considered rival, but as you are, you are a child, and none could simply leave a child to her fate in this place.

"For safe though it is by day, by night Nerima is ruled by magic, much of which is ancient and foul. Your instincts served you well in avoiding much of it but they failed in the end. Had I not intervened, you would have charged headlong into one of the more dangerous spirits that wander these streets."

"I see. Thank you for your assistance then. Where are we now?"

"A convenient roof that was close at hand. I deemed it imprudent to move you far, but needs dictated we leave the street."

Madison nodded, a final question occurring to her as she did, unconsciously shifting her speech pattern to match as she asked it. "By what name are you known?"

"I am Kodachi Kuno, The Black Rose."

* * *

The Wrecking Crew had regrouped at the school… most of them anyway, there were still one or two stragglers.

Sayuri for example, had just arrived, collapsing with her back against a tree as she did. "Between curses, ghosts, drunkards, demons, and crazy martial artists, I've been in five fights tonight."

Daisuke barked a laugh from where he was leaning against a partially erected statue. "I've been in seven, what are you complaining for?"

Yuka stifled a chuckle. "Oh Dai~su~ke, I've been in nine fights and Naru's been in ten."

"I've won twelve," Gosunkugi offered.

"Thirteen," Luna shot back.

"Fifteen," Hiroshi topped.

"Ha-hah! I, Tatewaki Kuno, have this night been victorious in seventeen engagements." The boy in question turned at a polite cough behind him.

"I've won nineteen." Kogane stated.

It was in the middle of this that Nabiki and Usagi arrived. "Are we comparing scores?" The mercenary asked, "Gratifying if pointless given how different each opponent could be. I got twenty two, how about you Tsukino?"

"Twenty seven."

As if on cue, there was a meteoric impact on the street, a crater forming where the robot Ranma and Akane had been riding impacted back first. Said robot struggled to rise and continue fighting for a few moments before finally giving out, several joints disengaging entirely.

"Ranma!" Daisuke's competitive streak was showing. If he couldn't win, then at least one guy (…sorta …mostly …usually) could. "How many fights did you win tonight?"

Ranma blinked in surprise, then paused as he counted. "Thirty seven and a half, why?"

Sayuri's confusion was obvious. "How do you win half a fight?"

Usagi was a little faster on the uptake. "He and Akane have been together all night, so he only gets half credit for each win."

"Then they defeated…" Kuno started counting on his fingers.

"Seventy five opponents," Nabiki provided.

"Yep," Akane smiled. "Why? How many fights were you guys in?"


	14. Chapter 14 - Beginnings of Unity

**Chapter 14**

 **Beginnings of Unity**

"So," Nabiki summarized, "After two hundred thirty one fights across the entire ward, it's almost dawn and we still have no idea where this girl is. Also, Ryoga's lost again, but on the bright side he seems to have taken Shampoo with him this time."

"So what now?" Sayuri asked.

"Well, Ryoga and Shampoo were supposed to be covering the warehouse district, I guess we search there next." Ranma said.

* * *

Madison and Kodachi were in trouble. Kodachi had just put an arm out to stop the younger girl. "Hold still."

"What is it?" The whisper was returned.

"Remember that I mentioned dangerous magic?"

"Yes."

"Well sometimes they move."

The thin fog around them had been thickening slowly already, but now it _pooled_ , gathering rapidly to a point in front of them. A shadowy figure came into view, silhouetted at the edge of their sight in a way that _had_ to be deliberate, glowing red eyes cutting through the night.

Dark laughter echoed around the street.

Madison took a step back, watching as Kodachi pulled out some kind of a whip and cracked it. "Come villain; find the venom in the Black Rose's thorns."

* * *

"So tell me," Shampoo asked Ryoga in Mandarin, "How exactly did we wind up in Chinatown, New York?"

* * *

Luna's ears tried to twitch as she heard something in the distance. She began running, the rest of the crew instinctively following her. "Follow the sound of explosions!" She hollered back at them.

* * *

The shadowy figure – literally, that's all it turned out to be, a moving silhouette with glowing red eyes – had thrown Kodachi into Madison. Both girls looked up from their position on the ground as the figure reached for them…

And then arched its back as someone dropped from somewhere above and behind it, steel glinting in their hands.

The figure turned. Behind it was a girl who looked to be only slightly older than Madison, black hair reaching down to her waist, metal claws glinting on her hands, and a silver crescent moon glowing on her forehead.

Several more people filtered in behind her, taking combat stances as they spread out. After a moment of watching them, the shadow melted into the ground, vanishing as the fog cleared.

"Sister," one of the new arrivals asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Why brother," Kodachi rolled her eyes, "I was waiting for the cavalry, what does it look like?"

The girl with the claws stepped forward and reached a hand out to help Madison up. "You wouldn't happen to be Madison, would you? Sakura sent us to find you?"

* * *

The group was back at the Tendo home. Brief introductions had been made and everyone was getting ready to grab a few hours of sleep before they needed to be up for various reasons, mats and blankets rolled out on the floor. The door opened abruptly and Shampoo walked in, dragging Ryoga behind her by the collar. She handed Nabiki a stack of post cards before collapsing on a pile of blankets that hadn't been handed out yet.

Nabiki flipped through the postcards, eyebrow climbing steadily as she did. "You guys literally hit every continent in a single night."

Ryoga scratched his head. "That's funny; I wonder why she only started collecting those about halfway through."

* * *

Nabiki and Kasumi walked into the living room from the hall, both carrying trays with lunch on them. While Kasumi began setting plates out in front of the half-dozen people around the table, Nabiki began speaking.

"Alright, Sakura, Madison, the official story is that you lost track of time on your outing into town. You got to your bus stop five minutes late and accidentally took the 609 instead of the 906, which used the last of your on-hand cash. Kasumi found you wandering while she was on her way home from shopping, but the busses had already stopped running. You were obviously lost by this point, so she was concerned and brought you home. Phones in our neighborhood were down, so you had to wait until repairs were finished to call home. At this point you were late enough that you were afraid to call home yourself, so Kasumi called instead and explained the situation. We're going to put you on the train home this evening. Your families wanted me to tell you that they're relieved you're both okay, so you shouldn't have to worry about being in too much trouble."

There was an eruption of raised voices from the yard.

"At least not from your parents," Nabiki amended.

"Oh my."

* * *

Mew Ichigo and two more girls had come over the wall and landed in the yard.

Naturally, everyone who hadn't met each other yet was instantly at odds. It had taken a bit (and more than one cyclical conversation), but everything had finally calmed down… for a given value of calm.

"So Mew Mews," Kasumi asked, "What brings you here? Is there another kimera in town?"

"No," The bird girl sitting on Mew Ichigo's left shook her head. "Genius here just overreacted."

"Well what was I supposed to think? A planeload of high schoolers gets taken hostage by terrorists, who else would it be? Even Ryou thought it was them!"

"Wait, what was that about terrorists?" Nabiki asked.

"It's been all over the news since last night," the other new girl said, "A high school trip was hijacked and taken hostage."

Nabiki bolted into the house for the television. The others arrived just in time to see the remote fall from her numb fingers. Most of the others turned their attention to the news broadcast, but Ranma and Akane only needed to see one thing.

There was a small blue shield rotating in and out with the Japan News Network logo. The shield had recently become familiar, though in this case the name of the organization it represented had been replaced by the numeral zero.

The pair arrived in Nabiki's room to find her furiously tapping away at a laptop. "Nabiki," Akane asked, "What's going on?"

"I've just been activated. Every MITHRIL agent in Asia has just been activated. There's a battle going on in North Korea right now that could start World War III _and decide who wins_. This isn't about a group of high schoolers. Apparently one of the girls they've got is special. Think Ranma if you converted all his fighting potential to thinking potential. She's scary smart, beat Einstein smart. If these guys get her designing weapons for them… or worse, figure out how to replicate her abilities? Say goodbye to the planet."

"Oh my," the trio turned to see Kasumi standing in the doorway. "It seems these terrorists are awfully well organized. Ranma, Akane, do you think a little chaos might help?"

The couple traded feral grins.

* * *

Everyone was gathered in the dojo waiting when Spectre walked in. "Okay kids, no point sugarcoating it, this is bad. End of the world bad. That terrorist attack on the news is a cover for the kidnapping of one Kaname Chidori. According to the information I was given, she's a special kind of person called a 'Whisper.' What this means is that she's as good at thinking as anyone in this room is at fighting. Terrorists get her making weapons for them and every fight from here on in will be reruns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Spectre forced herself not to wince with her audience. It was a shot below the belt and hurt her just as bad as it did them, but they needed to know how bad things could get.

"So we're asking for volunteers. This won't be like your other fights. These people will be using guns and trying to kill you. Not all of you are up to something like this, and frankly there's only so much room on a Pave Mare anyway.

"Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno, Hikaru Gosunkugi, Kogane Nakamura, Yuka Toshima, Sayuri Kamei, Naru Osaka, Hiroshi Tsujitani, Daisuke Koyasu, and Madison Taylor; you have been designated the home guard. You're sitting this one out. Don't be offended please, you were just the ones it was determined still had to play by the same rules the rest of us mortals do.

"Everyone whose name I did _not_ call take a few minutes to decide if you're coming or not. You've got until my bird gets here."

* * *

Tatewaki grabbed Ranma's shoulder as he entered the yard. "Saotome, why am I not joining this battle?"

Ranma sighed. "We considered bringing you. But someone has to stay. C'mon Kuno, this is us. You know something's gonna happen while we're gone. With you and Kogane here we've at least got a few ki sensitives keeping an eye on things. Besides, you're the most flamboyant out of all of us. If there's anyone I can see leading these guys into a fight before we get back and having everyone make it out, it's you. For all your faults Kuno, you're bold, and brave to the point of recklessness. There needs to be some kind of natural leader here when everything goes wrong."

For a moment, warrior and samurai locked eyes, then with a nod they gave each other the same charge.

"Take care of them."

* * *

Spectre came around the side of the house to find Ranma, Akane, Luna, Ryoga, Shampoo, and the Mew Mews were gathered in the yard. "Bad news, helicopter's not coming to get us. We'll need another way to get to this fight."

"Don't worry." Sakura was just slipping out of the dojo, staff in hand. "I've got this." _I hope._ She drew a card.

" _More than one to fly we need_

 _So let the mighty bird be freed._

 _So that you can carry more,_

 _Fly Card please take your one true form!_

 _Release!"_

The spinning card halted in midair as she struck it. The magic spiraled out and solidified as a roc sized bird in the middle of the lawn.

Spectre was blasé. "Well, that's solved then; can't get a helicopter so we'll arrive to save the day on a giant magical bird. Guess we'd betted get moving then, I need to get this anti-terrorism team back by bedtime. Anybody know when our friend Sailor Moon is getting here?"

"Sorry I'm late." The girl in question bounced off the roof. "Usagi's gonna be a while, she wore herself out getting across town and she can't roof hop yet."

Spectre seemed to think things over for a minute. "Alright, we can't wait then. She'll just have to help the home guard keep an eye on things. All aboard, Air Cardcaptor flight 101, nonstop to North Korea."

Sailor Moon's path to the bird was cut off by an awestruck Amazon. "Senshi?" Shampoo asked reverently.

Moon nodded hesitantly.

The Chinese girl dropped to one knee and began rattling off a series of words she had obviously memorized verbatim.

Luna drew in a gasp. "That's Lunarian."

The Senshi nodded. "I recognize it." She bent down, placing one hand on Shampoo's shoulder and the first two fingers of the other over her mouth. "Do you know what you're saying?"

Shampoo happily shook her head in the negative.

"Then don't say it." At Shampoo's confused look Moon sighed. "Apparently we need to have a long talk much later."

"Then we'd better focus for now on making sure there _is_ a later." Spectre cut in. "Last call, all aboard for North Korea."

The last two warriors rose and boarded the bird. Within a few minutes, Kasumi was watching the distant dot moving towards the horizon. "I know you wouldn't have forgiven yourselves if you'd ignored this and it went badly, but please, be safe." She withdrew a small medallion that had a seven pointed star with "竜" in center on one side and the curved teardrop shaped yin emblem on the other. "I wonder if this is what he meant…"

* * *

 **A/N: Alright. That's done. I've actually been able to transfer a lot of my drafts to the computer this weekend, so I'm pretty pleased.**

 **On an aside, Daisuke's last name: I _almost_ went with Niwa. Unfortunately I figured that'd be too confusing just at the moment, because that would have been the only reference (Sorry, D. isn't one of the seven), so I eventually decided to do the same thing I did with Yuka, Sayuri, and Hiroshi, and went with their seiyu's surnames.**

 **Also, because it was asked for, the series that have linked up so far are Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, and Cardcaptor Sakura. Full Metal Panic has been revealed, but not fully integrated yet, though this chapter marks the beginning of that. There's one more that will be hooking up in the near future, and then that'll be it almost up until the assault on the Dark Kingdom (Although the events of the seventh series will be going on behind the scenes).**

 **Our heroes thus far in order of appearance are:**

 **Ranma Saotome**

 **Usagi Tsukino**

 **Kasumi Tendo**

 **Nabiki Tendo**

 **Akane Tendo**

 **Tatewaki Kuno**

 **Luna**

 **Hikaru Gosunkugi**

 **Naru Osaka**

 **Sayuri Kamei**

 **Yuka Toshima**

 **Hiroshi Tsujitani**

 **Daisuke Koyasu**

 **Ichigo Momomiya**

 **Kogane Nakamura**

 **Ryoga Hibiki**

 **Sakura Avalon (I did see the questions about that. There is a reason I went with this particular name. Several in fact, including one plot-relevant one, so I'm not giving anything away yet.)**

 **Keroberos**

 **Shampoo**

 **Madison Taylor (Going with the Avalon surname left me committed to her dub name as well. That said, only the character names are changing.)**

 **Kodachi Kuno**

 **Minto Aizawa**

 **Retasu Midorikawa**

 **Hopefully this helps answer the questions about that. Alternatively, I could keep a running chart on my profile about who is or isn't currently running with the group. Let me know.**

 **As always, thanks for reading,**

 **~NPP-VI**


	15. Chapter 15 - Korea

**Chapter 15**

 **Korea**

Captain Teletha Testarossa was worried. The battle simply wasn't going as well as she'd expected, these terrorists were far more prepared than she'd believed.

Sagara had Chidori, but he had been cut off from any support or escape.

The schoolkids were still trapped on the plane in the middle of everything. She was waiting for someone to blow them up just to alleviate a headache.

Her soldiers had been pushed back to the shore, and –

The communications officer suddenly straightened. "Sir! We've got reinforcements inbound!"

Tessa's attention snapped to him. "What? I thought there weren't any ships close enough."

"It's not a ship sir; it's a dormant agent from Tokyo. I've got her on comm."

The girl's gaze dropped. Some brave soldier who probably hadn't seen action in years had received the distress signal and was now desperately rushing to be the cavalry. They had no idea the scope of what was going on. Still, she could at least show them the courtesy of turning them away personally. "Do we have visual?"

"Yes sir."

"Then bring them up on the main display."

There was a brief instant of static while the image changed, and then a sight was revealed that caught Tessa completely off-guard: A teenage girl with her brown hair in a pageboy cut. It was obvious that the girl was using a MITHRIL tactical helmet, though where she would have acquired one… "This is Captain Teletha Testarossa of the _Tuatha De Danaan_ , who am I speaking to?"

"Corporal Nabiki Tendo, Code Name: Spectre. MITHRIL Intelligence division."

Tessa blinked. "How old are you agent?"

"Older than you sir."

Tessa ignored the stifled laughter. "Thank you for offering to help soldier, but go home. There's nothing you can do here."

The camera jiggled as if Nabiki were shaking her head. "No chance sir, I did _not_ get this lot on a bird just so I could turn around and go back to Japan as soon as I got here."

Tessa sighed, "What do you think you can even do? Have you even got anything to work with?"

The older girl glanced to the side, obviously looking at something off camera. "Yeah, you could say that. They're a pretty unorthodox group, I'll give you that, but these are some non-standards you can count on."

Tessa sighed. Old, experimental, and militia equipment… still, if there was enough of it then it might be enough. Sometimes odd tactics worked. "Analog classifications and inventory."

Spectre's attention snapped back to the captain. "Five Arm Slave Analogs and Six Special Operations Team Analogs."

Tessa didn't remember standing up. "What's your ETA?"

In answer the image changed, Nabiki having apparently triggered the switch from her interior camera to her exterior one. There was a slightly shaky shot of the sky before she apparently reached the edge of her aircraft and looked over, revealing the _Tuatha De Danaan_ below. "Look up sir."

"Sir! They're not showing up on radar!"

"Sir! Deck crews are reporting a bird flying over us!"

Tessa ignored the first alert to focus on the second. "What classification of aircraft?"

"…They say that 'bird' is the classification sir."

"Display visual!"

Nabiki's face reappeared just in time to be shunted sideways so it could share space with the image of an enormous white bird. "I _did_ mention we were unorthodox."

Tessa was the only one on the bridge not stunned into silence. "That's putting it rather mildly."

Spectre smirked. "So, where do you need us?"

Tessa sighed as she collapsed back into her chair in equal parts relief and exhaustion. "Evenly spread, we're losing on all fronts."

"How many is all?"

"Three. Sergeant Sagara has Miss Chidori, but they've been isolated, we still haven't managed to recover the plane with the high schoolers, and we're losing the firefight on the beach, compounding our inability to land troops safely. What can you take care of?"

"One moment." After that Nabiki apparently turned either her microphone or her audio transmitter off, because even though her lips were moving, she was completely silent. Another sharp head movement shook the camera as she apparently finished her consultation and spoke to the ship again.

"Alright, we've got our attack pattern sorted out; let your boys know help is on the way."

* * *

The Lieutenant was annoyed. Supposedly reinforcements were on the way, but he wasn't seeing any of them.

That is, until a streak of light passed through one of the enemy AS units. Explosions proceeded to rip a line through said Arm Slave from right hip to left shoulder.

His trained eyes automatically followed the streak of light and he turned to see a girl standing on one the head of one of the only AS units left on _his_ side catch what looked like a chakram of some kind.

He turned at the sound of more explosions to see a pair of teenage girls running down the side of another enemy AS leaving twin trails of destruction in their wake.

Enemy infantry moved in to attack the newcomers, and before he had even drawn breath to order his men to back the girls up there was the deafening sound of air being rapidly displaced behind him.

He turned again to find a… yes; that was definitely a mermaid rising on the waterspout. Also yes, she was in fact throwing blasts of water and energy like they were going out of style.

He wasn't sure if it was the shock or the spinning, but he felt slightly dizzy. As he let himself drop into a seated position on the sand, he grabbed the handset of the radio next to him, the comm line to the _TDD_ already open. "Sir," he spoke slowly, "Next time please warn me that we're redefining 'nonstandard.'"

* * *

The Teacher was worried. They still hadn't brought back Kaname Chidori and Sousuke Sagara had vanished at some point as well. If something wound up happening to either of them, or any of her other students…

There was a flash of light and she turned to see a... a winged girl, stepping through the opening where she had just blown in one of the doors further back in the plane.

Knowing that a fight would now be inevitable, she realized what she had to do to minimize risk to her students and turned to tackle one of the guards near her. What she found was a soldier in some kind of tactical jumpsuit and a boy who obviously spent far too much time in the gym and needed to get out more surrounded by unconscious terrorists. A few seconds, a pair of energy blasts, and a handful of tranquilizer darts later, the plane was secure.

* * *

The Girl was scared. She and Sousuke were obviously being toyed with.

That silver AS wasn't just hunting them, it was enjoying it. It was a cat playing with its food because it was sure it couldn't get away. And Kaname couldn't honestly tell herself it was wrong.

Their pursuer suddenly came out from around the side of a cliff, its gun to the head of Sousuke's AS before either of them could react.

"Nimble, ain't ya Kashim? Unfortunately fun's over. Like I told ya before, I need the girl. So you need to die."

And then the giant bird dropped from the sky.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, yes, it's a short chapter and I apologize for that. Unfortunately this is basically where an action break needed to be - next chapter's gonna be a long one - and I felt it was about time I got _something_ out for you guys.**

 **Special thanks to Xamusel - Gamma 11 for pointing out an error on my part. For those of you who are wondering, Nabiki's code name _will_ be changing, but there are reasons for it that I don't want to give away just yet.**

 **Also, before anyone says something, yes, I know that this isn't how Sousuke's fight with Gauron went, things wound up working out a little differently for the three heroes cut off from their allies (don't worry, nobody's dead yet), which is one of the reasons the next chapter's gonna be longer than usual.**

 **I also have a bit of a decision to make regarding Nabiki. Specifically, whether or not to reveal how she got involved with MITHRIL in the first place. My original plans involved having her be coy about it whenever asked, until a scene following an _extremely_ heavy arc involving copious amounts of alcohol. Fun as that would be (until the mentioned part where it decidedly _isn't_ ), I can also see it coming up in the debriefing amongst questions about the unique nature of the allies she brought into play. Eh, we'll just have to see what the story wants.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading, and for all the support this story gets.**

 **~NPP6**


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